Third class pupils from Galway’s Claddagh National School (NS) combed Grattan Beach late last week as part of the #BigBeachClean24 initiative.
The outing with gloves and litter pickers was organised by Clean Coasts, a unit of An Taisce.
Approximately 40 pupils from Claddagh NS were dispatched across Grattan Beach at low tide to bag whatever pieces of litter they could find, before returning and cataloguing their discoveries, as a means of learning more about the types of rubbish and waste items that can end up polluting our beaches.
The event was coordinated by Ollie O’Flaherty (Clean Coasts Development Officer) and Patrick Cross (Clean Coasts Campaigns Officer) in partnership with Uisce Éireann with support from the teachers and parents of Claddagh NS and representatives from Galway City Council.
Dr Maria Vittoria Marra and Tara Noonan from the nearby Galway Atlantaquaria, took the pupils rock-pooling after the beach clean was complete and helped them to find and identify different types of crustaceans such as hermit crabs and limpets.
Liz Cullina is a third class teacher at Claddagh NS and was among the school staff helping out on the day. She said there are multiple benefits in getting the pupils involved in an event such as the beach clean.
“Just coming down, being in the fresh air, organising themselves into groups and co-operating, learning about the wildlife,” she said.
“None of the children in my class have been rock-pooling before. Then doing the beach clean; some of the children didn’t realise that seaweed is something natural that belongs on the beach,” she said.
“Being able to identify the plastics, the cigarette butts, all these things that don’t belong on the beach. Then we collect all the data and that ties in with our maths curriculum and our citizen science, “Cullina added.
The outing was also part of the Think Before You Flush public awareness campaign, highlighting the problems that items such as wet wipes, cotton buds, sanitary waste and dental floss can cause to wastewater networks and the marine environment if they are flushed down the toilet.
Uisce Eireann says it clears approximately 10,000 blockages caused by such items in the wastewater network every year.
To learn more about the Think Before You Flush initiative, visit here
