Displaying items by tag: South Carolina

9th November 2021

South Carolina Rubbish Bin Crosses Atlantic to Co Mayo Beach

A refuse barrel from South Carolina has been found washed up in an unexpected spot — on a beach more than 5,500km away in Co Mayo.

Myrtle Beach City Government shared their surprise email exchange with Keith McGreal, who discovered the blue barrel at the weekend while walking his local beach in Mulranny, between Clew Bay and Blacksod Bay.

McGreal contacted officials in Myrtle Beach — perhaps best known in this part of the world for its abundance of golf courses — going by the labels that were still fastened to the trash can despite its epic journey.

It’s suspected that following strong winds or a storm blew it into the North Atlantic, a favourable Gulf Stream current was responsible for taking the coastal rubbish receptacle so far off course.

“We typically remove trash containers from the beach before a hurricane, but this one apparently had a mind of its own,” the city said on social media, adding: “We’ve already had a city employee volunteer to come fetch it.”

Published in Coastal Notes

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About World Ocean Day

World Ocean Day is celebrated annually on June 8th to highlight the important role the ocean has for our life and the planet. The focus each year is on the 30x30 campaign: to create a healthy ocean with abundant wildlife and to stabilise the climate, it is critical that 30% of our planet’s lands, waters, and oceans are protected by 2030.

One of the issues affecting our ocean is marine litter which has become a global problem for both humans and marine life. However, communities around Ireland have demonstrated their desire to be part of the solution by taking part in several beach cleaning and clean-up calls to action.

Statistics show that the number one cause of marine litter is litter dropped in towns and cities.

In 2021, the initiative changed its name from “World Oceans Day” to “World Ocean Day”. By dropping the “s”, its organisers wanted to highlight the fact that we are all connected by a large ocean. This shared ocean supports all life on the planet, by producing most of the oxygen we breathe and regulating climate. No matter where we live, we all depend on the ocean to survive.

This means that each piece of marine litter removed from a beach, river, lake, park or street in Ireland, will have a positive impact on a global scale.