Wooden bodyboards are being rented out for free in an attempt to cut polystyrene pollution.

Campaigners say thousands of polystyrene body boards are discarded every year at beaches in the UK, sometimes after one use.

North Devon seaside resort Westward Ho! has already banned the sale of the boards.

A number of shops in Devon, Cornwall, Sussex and Pembrokeshire will now offer wooden bellyboards for free hire as a "sustainable" alternative.

Among those supporting the project is Jamie Johnstone, at Dick Pearce Bellyboards of Newquay, who is sending wooden bellyboards to ten surf shops to borrow out for free.

"People can borrow them every day but the idea is that they will realise how much fun they are and that they will last forever," he told the BBC.

"I live in Newquay and I got so fed up with seeing all the polystyrene boards being dumped on the beach, there is quite an obvious problem."

Campaigners say thousands of bodyboards are discarded every year. Picture: Neil Hembrow / SWNS

Campaigners say thousands of bodyboards are discarded every year. Picture: Neil Hembrow / SWNS

Attention was drawn to the issue in 2010 when more than 200 discarded boards were collected in Polzeath, north Cornwall.

In Croyde, north Devon, more than 400 boards were discarded on the beach in 2020 and in Newquay beach rangers estimate 20 boards are thrown away every day in the holiday season.

A free board rental scheme in Westward Ho! has been set up by the Plastic Free Torridge campaign group.

It said more than 16,000 cheap polystyrene bodyboards were discarded on UK beaches every year.

Spokesman Andrew Cross told the BBC: "They are poor value and bad for the environment.

"Polystyrene is fragile and crumbles easily posing a danger to sea and shore life alike."