Bay Area teen builds sculptures out of trash collected during cleanups

TAMPA, Fla. - Ryan Moralevitz spends many days in his garage transforming trash into treasure. The trash ranges from broken sunglasses to bottle caps to plastic toys, and it all comes from Tampa Bay area beaches and waterways. 

"You never know what you are going to find," he said. 

The 16-year-old organizes trash cleanups a couple of times a month. Some are smaller with just his family. Some involve a group of students from his high school. 

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He recycles most of the trash by building sculptures of marine life. 

"My original intent with these sculptures was to make someone’s favorite animal, in hopes that they’d see it and want to help as well, that it would inspire them," Moralevitz said. 

The teen has created sculptures of manta rays, turtles, seahorses and shrimp. Five of his sculptures are on display at Port Tampa Bay’s cruise terminal. 

"I love the crowd that I get with these sculptures," Moralevitz said. "My favorite game to play is to try to see what I used to actually build it, try and point out the pieces."

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He has used credit cards, car bumpers and even cigarettes in his work. He’s currently working on an octopus, using a game controller as the base and garden hoses as the arms. 

Anchored by the sculptures and cleanups, Moralevitz founded The Fishes Wishes to shine a spotlight on ocean conservatory. Through fundraising and sculpture sales, he’s raised nearly $30,000 for various ocean conservation groups. 

"I want to get people inspired, to get people to want to help, so that the next generation can be aware of these issues," Moralevitz said. 

For more information, visit thefisheswishes.com.