Cobh Zero Waste has held many action days and outreach events to bring awareness to our group and highlight just some of the solutions to pressing issues such as pollution and climate change. These have included zero-waste workshops, seminars on waste management from experts, our stall at Cobh Farmers’ Market, and a talk from zero-waste expert and influencer Bea Johnson.
Last year our volunteers organized a school conference with the Green Schools committees of each of the schools on the island, where each group could showcase their work on sustainability within their school, something we’re hopeful about doing again when public health will allow for it!
We’ve hosted initiatives such as a repair café and clothes swaps in Cobh, and held community outreach meetings working with SECAD’s “My Town My Plan” scheme, where we’ve invited members of the community to come and share what they’d like to see in a low-waste, sustainable town. Ideas shared included community-supported agriculture, an anaerobic digestor, and the establishment of “walking buses” (supervised walking groups on the way to and from school) for school children.
One of our primary objectives as a group is to bring awareness to plastic pollution and waste management; we’ve held supermarket action days where we’ve promoted our group and asked people to participate in our action by leaving unnecessary plastic packaging behind them.
Future Action Days
Going forward (in a post-Covid future!) we hope to massively tackle waste in our town by virtually eliminating single-use plastics. We’ve started by investing in 2000 reusable cups that can be used by local clubs and community groups for large events such as road races where plastic cups have been the go-to. Cobh Tidy Towns will provide large water containers to go with them, and volunteers will distribute and collect them on behalf of the group they have been loaned to. This scheme will be open to any group, as long as the cups are returned clean and dry!
If you have an idea for an initiative or event you’d like to see in Cobh please don’t hesitate to get in touch; you can email us here! We are always delighted to welcome new members and hear new ideas.
Síofra Richardson || 13-June-2020