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Secondary school students in Galway did their part to keep the coast clean recently, clearing 46kg of garbage from a beach near Kinvara.
An Taisce’s Green Schools team brought students from four secondary schools to Traught Beach, Kinvara last week where they gathered eleven bags of marine litter.
Siobhan Sheil, Irish Water’s Green-Schools sponsorship manager said “This is a beautiful location and a wonderful amenity for locals and visitors alike, so it is vital that we all play our part in protecting it.”
“Events like this help raise awareness of the impact of marine litter and the importance of doing all we can to tackle it so that amenities like Traught Beach can continue to be enjoyed by all.”
Each year millions of tonnes of marine litter enter our seas and oceans, resulting in environmental, economic, health and aesthetic challenges.
Irish Water warns that people are continuing to flush large amounts of items such as wet wipes and cotton bud sticks which clog up sewers and eventually make their way to the ocean, where they pollute our beaches.
They can also cause severe damage to local wildlife and the marine environment.
The event was part of the Water Theme of the Green Schools programme, a free programme which has been in operation since 2015.
It asks secondary school students to become Green Schools Ambassadors, attending training events across the country as well as beach cleans and a support session.
Sixty-six secondary school students were selected as Green-Schools Water Ambassadors in 2018/19 to educate their peers about protecting the environment.
Cathy Baxter, Green-Schools Manager said that their programme this year includes many workshops, Walk for Water events, ambassador support sessions, a poster competition, and am award ceremony to choose the Eater Schools of the Year.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Irish Water once again and we would like to thank all of our Water Ambassadors for taking the lead in educating the wider community about the importance of water conservation.”
