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.

Shops in Devon, Cornwall, Sussex and Pembrokeshire will now offer wooden boards for free hire as a "sustainable" alternative.

Jamie Johnstone at Dick Pearce Bellyboards in Newquay is sending wooden boards to 10 surf shops to be rented out for free.

The Argus: Polystyrene bodyboards are often left on beachesPolystyrene bodyboards are often left on beaches

"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."

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.

Westward Ho! in North Devon has already banned the sale of polystyrene boards.

A free board rental scheme in the seaside resort has been set up by the Plastic Free Torridge campaign group.

It said more than 16,000 cheap polystyrene boards 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."