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SIXTY-THOUSAND bags of litter have been collected by members of the public as part of KWD Recycling’s annual County Clean-Up initiative since 2012.
KWD Recycling CEO Sean Murphy said it is very heartening that during the global COVID-19 pandemic, 3,500 people in Kerry, complying with public health guidelines, took to the highways and byways of Kerry to collect roadside rubbish in this the ninth year of the County Clean-Up programme.
“We never see the people who indiscriminately and unnecessarily dump all this rubbish, but we see the true spirit of Kerry in the many volunteers who make the County Clean-Up a success every year. It is our privilege to provide the platform for this great work to the volunteers of all ages throughout the county,” he said.
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KWD Recycling’s Noel O’Reilly believes the County Clean-Up brings communities together, raising awareness of the impact of littering, which in turn deters people from throwing rubbish on our roads in the first place.
“If people simply stopped randomly discarding plastic bottles, it would eliminate a massive amount of litter. KWD Recycling and Kerry County Council’s analysis of the waste collected shows single-use drinking containers are the most common item of litter retrieved from locations across Kerry.
“Plastic bottles are a scourge in scenic areas of Kerry. They can be recycled if people dispose of them properly. The average time for a plastic bottle to degrade is close to 500 years – if the masons who built Ross Castle in Killarney discarded a plastic bottle it could still be around today,” he said.
Last year’s County Clean-Up was cancelled because of COVID-19. This year’s event took place over a week rather than the regular one-day event to ensure that public health restrictions and guidelines were followed. Since it was established in 2012, 60,000 bags of rubbish have been collected by the County Clean-Up volunteers.
