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Staff from Aspen Grove with Tralee Tidy Towns volunteers at the Lock Gates on Friday. Photo by Dermot Crean
COCKLESHELL beach was a hive of activity last Friday when 28 Aspen Grove staff members joined Tralee Tidy Towns on a massive clean up of the area from Cockleshell to the Lock Gates car park.
Tralee Tidy Towns has adopted Cockleshell as part of their Clean Coasts programme and this is the third clean up in the last year.
Nine bags of litter were collected on the morning and micro plastics made up most of the haul. The Kerry County Council Tralee MD team picked up the bags once the clean up concluded.
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Tralee Tidy Towns members gave a short talk about the importance of cleaning this litter from the beach and the impact of marine litter on the wildlife that depends on Cockleshell, part of the Tralee Bay Complex Special Protection Area, classified under the (European) Birds Directive.
20,000 birds, many of them migratory and endangered, regularly visit over winter in Tralee Bay and are at risk from ingesting small plastic particles or becoming entangled in plastic nets or other debris.
Aspen Grove staff at Cockleshell on Friday.
Mike McAuliffe, CEO of Aspen Grove said: “For the Aspen team, community is very important and at the core of everything we do. We are delighted to support the excellent work of Tralee Tidy Towns which helps to maintain this beautiful area that we are privileged to live and work in.”
Anne Marie Fuller of Tralee Tidy Towns said: “We are very pleased to have such a large show of support from Aspen Grove on this clean up – it is heartening to have this number of people offer their time and it allowed us to do a very thorough clean up of this important area. This clean up builds on the work we started on the last Clean Coasts Big Beach Clean and works towards fulfilling our commitment to keeping Cockleshell Beach, which is such a beautiful area, marine-plastic free. We would also extend a thank you to Clean Coasts for their clean up kit and to Kerry County Council Tralee MD for taking care of the bags collected.”
Aspen Grove staff at Cockleshell on Friday.
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Aspen Grove staff at Cockleshell on Friday.
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Aspen Grove staff at Cockleshell on Friday.
Aspen Grove staff at Cockleshell on Friday.
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Aspen Grove staff at Cockleshell on Friday.
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