On April 22nd, Coastwatch held a half-day Earth Day event at the European Commission Representation of Ireland, in Dublin, addressing the Single Use Plastics Directive. A report, the power points, and a professional video of the event will be produced and uploaded in the next 2 weeks. For now, we share a link to a four-part TV-quality interview produced by John Gormley at the event.
The first part features Trinity College Dublin student and Earthday.org representative Johnny Dabrowski, highlighting the plastic theme this year, and Earthday.org's ambition – a 60% reduction in plastic manufacturing by 2040.
Part 2 is Coastwatcher, 5th-year school student Ailbhe Flynn reacting to confusing workshop information - Banned Single Use Plastic items may be banned, but if a shop sells them or a cafe offers them it's not illegal.
Clip 3 is Cork Coastwatcher Marie-Terese O'Shea speaking of the success of her university single-use cup ban.
Cip 4 shows Colm Lambert from the Environmental Advisory Unit, Waste Section, Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications. He presented an excellent overview of Irish law on the banned single-use plastics. In the clip, he welcomes the citizen science work Coastwatchers are doing and refers to the data presented shadowing the impact of the SUP law for the past 4 years.