Nearly 2000 plastic bags were laid out on Castlecliff beach last weekend in a dramatic visual representation of one hour's worth of what is used shopping in Whanganui.
The project was organised by Plastic Bag Free Whanganui and Whanganui Greens as a practice run for a more public event later this year.
Jill Hobbs, from Plastic Bag Free Whanganui, said members counted the number of plastic bags leaving the city's four main supermarkets (Pak'nSave, New World and two Countdowns) in one hour, and a total of 1926 were counted.
The groups collected almost 2000 plastic bags and around 25 people strung them together along the beach. The result was filmed and photographed by Brit Bunkley with his drone.
Ms Hobbs said the group wanted to highlight the damage plastic bags did to the environment - and present the reality of the sheer number of bags that people use.
"Plastic bags never biodegrade, but they do break down," she said.