Euro project sees litter cleaned and surveyed in Ballybunion

LOCALS swooped onto the sands of Ballybunion’s Ladies’ Beach in a massive clean-up on Sunday that might just represent the beginnings of a meaningful global response to the seemingly overwhelming problem of marine pollution.

Ballybunion Tidy Towns members joined forces with Clean Coasts, members of the Macroom E Enterprise Centre and friends from across Kerry under what was an initiative of the European Circular Ocean Project.

What they hauled out in plastics and old ropes and nets bears out the staggering statistic that 12.7 million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped into oceans every year.

But the Circular Ocean project is now exploring ways to literally get money for old rope via waste ropes, nets and plastic materials that could be recycled in a variety of enterprises; with potential applications in everything from wastewater treatment to 3D printing and use as building material.

Circular Ocean is even offering support to small to medium enterprises to establish businesses re-using marine waste in these ways.

Transition Year students are also playing a crucial role in the story - local St Joseph’s Secondary students were present on Sunday surveying the litter hauled off the beach in order to build a clearer picture of the profile of the pollution on the coast of western Europe. Their findings will be released by Clean Coasts shortly.

All Photos by Domnick Walsh Rachel Hanrahan from Ballybunion and Aoife O’Connor from Ballyduff displaying some of the flotsam gathered in Sunday’s big Clean Coasts clean-up on the Ladies’ Beach, held in conjunction with the local Ballybunion Tidy Towns. BELOW: Listowel Tidy Towns...