PAVING THE WAY FOR A PLASTIC-FREE WORLD
Seal Rescue Ireland in Courtown is paving the way to help build a better future for the planet and its inhabitants.
The non-profit organisation, who rescue, rehabilitate and release seal pups, has adopted an innovative idea called Ecobricks to put plastics to good use. This simple building material consists of large plastic bottles which have been tightly packed with soft plastics.
Centre manager Melanie Croce, who has seen first hand the effects human activity is having on marine life, said making Ecobricks stops the plastic from going out into the environment and it is upcycling it into something useful.
‘It makes you very aware of every single piece of non-biodegradable piece of plastic you will use because you have to stuff it into a brick,’ said Melanie, who assured Ecobricks is not her own idea.
These surprisingly heavy bricks have been used by the team at Seal Rescue Ireland to make sturdy furniture such as stools. They also hope to use them to make benches and maybe the building blocks of a second rescue facility in Ireland.
For the Ecobricks, Seal Rescue Ireland collect plastic from their volunteers houses nearby. They are also accepting Ecobricks from members of the public keen to put their waste to good use. In order to be deemed acceptable, these bricks must be made from 1.7 or two litre plastic bottles densely packed with as much clean, soft plastic as they can hold. Water bottles will not be accepted.
Melanie said you have to make sure to get rid of all the open spaces because they will compromise the integrity of the brick.
Seal Rescue Ireland hope to run public workshops on Ecobrick making in the future. In the meantime, there are various tutorials and videos available online at ecobricks.org
The threat of plastic pollution is something to which Irish common and grey seals are not immune. The Seal Rescue Ireland team are keen to highlight this to visitors.
As an example of these threats, Melanie explained the story of a grey seal pup and former resident called Karma. The seal looked like she was in good condition, but had some strange behaviour.
‘She was nice and fat with no visible injuries,’ said Melanie. ‘In the end, she passed away.’
What had cost the seal her life was a single crisp packet blocking her intestines because the reflective surface of a crisp packet can mimic that of a fish.
‘Seals will eat anything they can get their teeth on. Now that there’s more plastic in their environment, they’re mistaking it for food and eating it,’ said Melanie. ‘Similarly to all soft plastics, crisp packets are not recyclable in Ireland. Even when disposed of correctly, they can easily get swept out into the ocean and cause harm.’
She advised the best thing to do is cut down on use of plastics.
For more information, or to help, call into the Seal Rescue Ireland centre in Courtown.