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Amelia Teahon, Abbey Hobbert, Sharon Crean Hobbert, Lily Anne Hobbert and Connie Morrissey at the clean-up at the Lock Gates on Friday. Photo by Dermot Crean
TRALEE Tidy Towns, AIB and Tralee Chamber teamed up to hold a beach clean to celebrate Earth Day on Friday afternoon.
Over 30 volunteers from the organising groups and people from the local community took part and collected an impressive 25 bags of marine litter from the area.
According to Earth Day, its mission is ‘to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide.’
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This year Earth Day is focusing on the problem of plastic pollution which is why this event focused on marine litter.
Cockleshell beach is part of the Tralee Bay Complex Special Protection Area which is important to a wide range of year-round and migratory birds including qualifying interests such as Oystercatcher, Sanderling and Ringed Plover.
Colleen Shannon, Annette Walsh, Gary Walsh and Mary Jo Quigley at the clean-up at the Lock Gates on Friday. Photo by Dermot Crean
Brendan O’Brien from Tralee Tidy Towns said:. “The continued commitment by Tralee Chamber and members like AIB to supporting community-led environmental initiatives is heartening. We were delighted when Stephen [Stack] came to us with the idea of teaming up on an event for Earth Day and we were really motivated by the team effort displayed at this event.
“A large volume of plastic waste, including wet wipes and plastic bottles was removed from this important wildlife habitat by these volunteers and as, a Clean Coasts group, we hope to keep an eye on this stretch of coastline from now on. As always, we’d also like to acknowledge Kerry County Council Tralee MD for picking up the bags for us – these large-scale clean ups would not be possible without them.”
The group at the clean-up at the Lock Gates on Friday. Photo by Dermot Crean
Stephen Stack, President of Tralee Chamber and Senior Branch Manager at AIB, said: “We are delighted to mark Earth Day by organising a collaboration between Tralee Tidy Towns, Tralee Chamber and AIB to clean Cockleshell beach. We had a great turnout and many thanks to all who showed up from each of the three organisations and the local community.”
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