Sydney diver shocked to find octopus gripping onto plastic straws, vows to clean-up environment

A Sydney diving instructor has taken on the task of doing something about the problem of plastic pollution.

Harriet Spark, 26, became aware of this problem when she found an octopus on the seabed gripping onto several plastic straws with its tentacles.

"The project was initially sparked by myself and a colleague going for a dive," she told Yahoo7 News.

"The first time my friend jumped in she noticed the amount of straws and managed to pick up 300 of them." 

Spark set up an Operation Straw, where volunteers joined her to retrieve straws along Manly Cove.

The operation expanded and partnered up with Sustainable Organisations of Manly.

Since then it has been successful, with thousands of straws being retrieved.

"The project is going really well but its definitely highlighting the problem that's there. The octopus incident only acted as further encouragement to do something about it" she said.