A band has sparked outrage after firing a glitter cannon into the air during one of their performances leaving ‘hundreds’ of pieces of plastic strewn over a seaside town.
Fowey Town Band had been performing during the Fowey Royal Regatta celebrations in Fowey, Cornwall on Thursday when two members of the band fired glitter cannons into the crowd.
In a video posted to Facebook, the band members can be seen holding the cannons in the air as hundreds of pieces of glitter shoot out.
The plastic glitter is fired into the air by members of the Fowley Town Band (pictured). Locals reported finding the pieces in drains, in the river and on beaches over the coming days
Fowey Town Band fires the glitter cannons into the air during a performance on Thursday. The band had been celebrating its fiftieth anniversary
Fowey Town Band (pictured) sparked outrage after firing two glitter cannons during a performance at Fowey Royal Regatta. The subsequent litter spread across the town and was found in drains, the river and even on the beach
The gold pieces cascade into the sky and locals have subsequently reported finding them ‘down drains, in the river and across local roads and the quayside’.
The band’s actions have been widely condemned with one local campaign group speaking of the ‘upset’ caused.
At the time the Cornish Plastic Free Coalition (CPPC) said the ‘debris was everywhere including down the drains and in the river’.
Describing the material that was fired out of the cannons, a spokesman for the CPPC told Mail Online: ‘It is plastic coated in metal. It will not degrade easily – if at all – in the marine environment.’
Lucy Daniel, 57, of Plastic Free Fowey, was also very vocal about the impact the glitter would have on the environment.
Speaking to the BBC she described the band’s actions as ‘extremely regrettable’.
The glitter spreads across the crowd (pictured) after it was fired by members of Fowey Town Band
When approached by Mail Online, Ms Daniel said the glitter had been used as part of the band’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations.
She said: ‘It’s a shame this has happened to them but I think we’ve cleared up a good amount of the glitter now.
‘It did take organisers of the royal regatta by surprise though. They were unaware the glitter bomb was going to go off.’
Just yesterday she posted on Facebook claiming to have picked up 250 pieces of ‘gold plastic litter’.
She said: ‘One and a half hours of beach clean in the rain by four and a half dedicated anti-plastic types, collected from two Fowey beaches and adjacent foreshores and quays.’
Alongside the glitter pieces she also picked up plastic bottles, broken glass, plastic cups and straws.
Both Ms Daniel and CPPC hope that the band will learn from their actions.
Describing the day of the glitter cannon itself, a spokesman for the CPPC said: ‘We were made aware of the glitter-foil incident at Fowey by some of our volunteers who witnessed Biffa operatives trying to clear up the foil first thing on Friday morning.
‘The Biffa staff were seen to be doing an amazing job and were actually quite upset at the extent of the littering around the quay area.
‘They cleared as much as they could, but the glitter foil pieces had already blown down drains and into the river as well as being distributed across the roads and quayside.
‘At that stage it was not clear who had been responsible for scattering the foil.’
The CPPC, which comprises over 40 marine conservation and environmental groups across Cornwall, decided to investigate.
Lucy Daniel, of Plastic Free Fowey, took to Facebook yesterday (pictured) to inform people of her clean-up operation on the beaches of Fowey. Among items such as plastic bottles and drinks cans she also found around 250 pieces of plastic glitter
Around 250 glitter pieces were found on two beaches in Fowey yesterday. Lucy Daniel, of Plastic Free Fowey, organised the big clean-up operation. She and three other volunteers also found plastic bottles and plastic cups on the beaches
The spokesman said: ‘After posting on Twitter and FB the coalition were informed that Fowey Town Band had fired two ‘cannons’ of the glitter foil over the Quay area on the previous evening.
‘Lucy Daniel from Plastic Free Fowey made contact to say that her group would be dealing with the matter and facilitating community discussions in order to stop future incidents.
‘The CPPC were pleased to see the matter was followed up quickly by local activists who also organised a beach clean to try and clear some of the remaining litter.
‘Hopefully lessons have been learned, and we understand that the regatta committee will be requiring all future participant groups to sign up to an environmental policy.’
The Fowey Royal Regatta takes place every year towards the end of August. It features events including a giant pasty and pasty eating competition, a carnival, a flora dance and sailing.
The seaside town of Fowey (pictured) where the performance took place on Thursday. Campaigners reported finding pieces of plastic glitter in various locations across the town following the firing of the glitter cannons
Hundreds visit the town while the event is taking place and most of the events are put on completely free of charge.
The Regatta Committee has issued a statement following the incident.
A spokesman said: ‘Neither the Regatta Committee nor Fowey Town Council were aware of the plan to use the glitter cannon.
‘Fowey Royal Regatta is committed to reducing single use plastic, and we would have requested the use of paper tape had we been advised of the Fowey Town Bands plans.’
The committee is now pushing forward with plans to make sure something like this does not happen at next year’s event.
A spokesman said: ‘Unfortunately the FTB are a completely separate unofficial organisation, but we will being having a serious word with them about plastic littering as it is completely unacceptable.
‘The Town Band is made up of very understanding, kind local men, and we are sure that they will be very disappointed to learn that they have contributed towards the plastic littering in Fowey.
‘We’re incredibly sorry for the upset this has caused to the public and the environment, and will ensure we work very closely in the future with FTB to ensure this doesn’t happen again.’
Fowey Town Band is yet to respond to the incident on social media, but Ms Daniel did tell the BBC that they were ‘very sorry about it’.
She also told Mail Online that if anyone needs any advice on being more environmentally friendly in their activities she is happy to help.
She said: ‘Everyone is at different stages in their reduction of plastic use. Anyone who needs any help is more than welcome to contact me and we can discuss how to make sure their plans are environmentally friendly.’