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Volunteers cleaning up Banna Beach on Sunday morning.
THERE was a fantastic turnout for this year’s Christmas Cleanup on Banna with 27 enthusiastic volunteers turning up at the beach on Sunday morning.
Volunteers were wrapped up, armed with gloves and bags and removed 25 bags of rubbish from the beach in just one hour.
The bags were filled with plastic bottle tops, bottles and fishing nets/ropes, along with a few more unusual finds, a tyre, lamps, 5 gallon drums and a TV.
It is estimated, that approximately 10 million tonnes of litter end up in the world’s oceans and seas each year.
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“The litter on our beaches is only part of the picture, representing just 15%, another 15% can be found floating at sea and the remaining 70% of litter settling on the seabed,” said Rachel Geary, who organised the clean-up.
Volunteers after collecting the rubbish on Banna Beach.
“All this litter has a huge impact on our environment, it can result in entanglement and ingestion by marine animals and ruin the appearance of our coastline. Today’s cleanup reduces these impacts, improves the appearance of our coastline and perhaps most importantly raises awareness with the younger generations.
It was great to see familiar faces and newcomers out in force, giving up their time to help keep Ireland’s coastline litter free. A fantastic effort was made by all, especially the little ones,” she said, thanking everyone who showed up on the day.
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Now that the fantastic volunteers have done all the hard work maybe Kerry County Council make an effort by putting the proper bins in place and emptying them on a regular basis – all year round!
Have a look at the BBC’s #2minutebeachclean , a simple and effective idea if we participate.