Evan, Alex and Dylan’s Tralee Canal Clean Up

Project 2020-011

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Our Super Junior overall winners were a tough one to beat – this group won the award last year but have continued their project and gone above and beyond. They just can’t be stopped!

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Over a year ago the project took root after they saw a swan eating Styrofoam in the Tralee canal. Since then, they have pulled 500 bags of rubbish from the area and organised a volunteer force up to 150 to help. Through their efforts they’ve raised over €4000 to purchase a Seabin, which will be installed in the canal to catch rubbish that they can’t get on a daily basis.

They have shared their message across the community with national and secondary schools, and have been on tv and radio discussing the problems of plastic pollution. And as if that wasn’t enough, they spoke at the Tralee town meeting and gave a public talk at Tralee Bay wetlands where they were interviewed live by GOKERRY.

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Actions taken:

• Continue to clean the canal to keep our wildlife safe from plastic pollution

• Public engagement, local television and radio events.

• Met with local councillor and environmental consultant to discuss steps to building a barrier on the canal.

• Visited national and secondary schools with their project to show other children you do not have to be an adult to make a difference in the world

• Recently stood with others at Kerry airport against the drilling of oil off the Kerry coast which was aired on RTE1 news and An Nuacht

• Attend Kerry biodiversity meetings held once a month in the ITT

 

Judges Comments:

This project is an extremely impressive endeavor that shows a stoic sense of commitment! They showed great ability to plan, organising a volunteer force and they were very brave in consulting external groups and media. What impresses us most is the dedication in this ongoing project, it’s not just once off, which shows incredibly diligence and hard work. It can be hard to keep the wind behind the sails sometimes but this teams shows that with enough passion a project can grow legs and become a huge part of the local community. We can’t wait to hear what you’ll do next year!