Pure future remains uncertain
FUNDING for the Pure Project is due to end in December of this year and there is no word yet whether the partnership project will continue.
Project Manager Ian Davis has submitted a project evaluation and submission of extension to the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Environment, in the hope that Pure will receive further funding to let the initiative continue.
‘If we don’t get the funding then I don’t know what will happen with the uplands. Some form of replacement initiative would have to take place to tackle dumping taking place in the uplands and to try and alleviate it. Pure has been going on for over 13 years and we have collected over 3,500 tonnes of illegally dumped materials in that time. But we are having an impact. In the 2000s, we collected 440 tonnes in one year. Last year we collected 160 tonnes. That’s a 65 per cent reduction so we are making an impact,’ said Mr Davis.
The Pure Project has been shortlisted for the Environmental Education and Awareness Initiative category of the 2019 Pakman Awards, now in its ninth year. Mr Davis is hopeful he might receive some form of update on the project’s future at the awards ceremony taking place in Dublin on Thursday night.
He said: ‘I would like to be in a position of knowing we are continuing or not before December. I would be hopeful we will be supported. I think the Pure Project has demonstrated its success and as a result is no longer a pilot project. Ideally, we would like some additional funding to expand the initiative and carry out more work.’