A 5ft toilet sculpted from sand was created at Dawlish Warren last week. The work was commissioned in conjunction with Teignbridge Council, South West Water and the Environment Agency to highlight problems caused by flushing things down the toilet which should have been put in the bin. These include, cotton buds, sanitary towels, razor blades, bandages and plastic bags. South West Water's sewerage operations manager, Kim Vanstone, said: 'Last year all the designated bathing waters in the south west met with European standards. One of the ways people can contribute towards maintaining this achievement is to manage their rubbish responsibly and to bag it and bin it, not flush it away.' Phil Shears, deputy chief executive of Teignbridge Council, said: 'Campaigns which encourage individual responsibility first can prevent such incidents occurring, and avoid the negative knock-on effects for local businesses, visitors and residents.' If it is successful in changing people's behaviour and then reducing the amount of blockages, sewer flooding and pollution in Dawlish, the campaign will be rolled out across the rest of the south west region. The sculpture was created by artist Mark Anderson, from Weymouth.
