I received my Summer 2012 issue of NationalParks Magazine this past weekend and there's an article called "Found Objects" about two artists who turn the beach trash they find at Point Reyes National Seashore into art. Richard and Judith Lang have been creating art with found beach plastic for over ten years.
In 2001, the park's visitor center housed their first exhibit: "One Beach, One Year", a year's worth of plastic found on Point Reyes' Kehoe Beach.
They led the public on guided trips to the beach to gather even more plastic and then provided a "creation station" where visitors could make something out of their shoreline debris. "Our art is not conflict-free, but we want to make it beautiful so people participate", said Judith and Richard.
I would imagine this was quite a wake-up call for people visiting the national seashore ten years ago. Today's amount and variety of plastic pieces is staggering and with the invasion of tons of floating debris from Japan, it's going to take a monumental effort by many people to keep the western beaches clean.