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Archive for Sustainable Skibbereen News

SEC Ireland’s Olympic Capital Will Be First Carbon Neutral Town

Posted by Moze Jacobs 
· February 17, 2022 

A few years ago, who would have guessed that Skibbereen would be home to Olympic and World champion rowers? It just goes to show what can be done with talent, know-how and a lot of hard work.

 

Now let’s also work on tackling the climate crisis!

A group of local environmentally focussed organisations, led by Sustainable Skibbereenand Green Skibbereen,has set up a Sustainable Energy Community (SEC). The steering committee is spearheaded by Liam McLaughlin, a local expert on alternative energy and energy conservation.

 

The SECis committed to making Skibbereen carbon neutral by 2040 with an interim goal of a 50% reduction on energy-related emissions by 2030. These goals match the science behind the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015. Carbon neutral means that there will be no net increase in the release of carbon dioxide, with a corresponding reduction in our dependency on the harmful burning of fossil fuels.

 

The SEC willdraw up an Energy Master Plan (EMP) for Skibbereen town in the course of 2022. Funding has been obtained from the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) https://www.seai.ie/. The Master Plan will provide a pathway for the decarbonisation (reduction in carbon-dependent energy use) of homes, businesses, public services, and transport within the town.

 

The SEC calls itself Net Zero Skibbereen (NZS) and aims to achieve the target by engaging with the community and encouraging as many individuals and businesses as possible to learn about the causes and effects of climate change and to participate in efforts to decarbonise the town.

 

There are many challenges and barriers to achieving our goal. However, the benefits of reduced expenditure on energy, improved health and comfort are well worth the effort and will benefit everyone. After all, the downsides of continued inaction are potentially catastrophic in terms of extreme weather effects, rising sea levels, and biodiversity loss.

 

Ambitious? Yes! Will we achieve it? Like the Olympians, we can use the available talent and work hard in the right direction. We hope to raise as much, if not more, public support for this project as the Olympic rowers generated.

 

Anyone from the Skibbereen locality is more than welcome to get involved in this ambitious and critical initiative. Please contact netzeroskibb@gmail.com. As soon as a public meeting is called you’ll hear it first.Here, and on our Sustainable SkibbereenFacebook page!

Categories : Tidy Towns

Waste Not, Want Not?

Posted by Sekeeta Crowley 
· July 8, 2020 

Waste management. I cannot believe this is not mentioned as part of the Development plan as it is integral if areas are to have increased housing and business. While Ireland currently recycles 33% of all plastics, higher than most EU countries, that figure needs to rise to 50% in 2025 and 55% by 2030 to meet EU targets. 40% of all municipal waste is recycled. But where?

General. Recycling and waste bring centres should be expanded and rationalised so that a visitor is clear what materials are taken and the same things are taken across the county. Each centre should also have the facility to take some domestic rubbish especially in small towns where the surrounding areas may not have door to door collection.Skibbereen has just adopted this scheme, which, although expensive, is appreciated. Recycling of cans and bottles is well established, but a deposit scheme for glass bottles would save on energy (Energy) if they were washed and reused. A collect and return scheme would be needed to get them back to the manufacturer or a bottle sanitising plant. Which could return the clean bottles to the manufacturer in the same way the new ones were sent out for filling.

 

Recycling systems can include a more rigorous sorting of materials into say plastic bottles, soft plastic and black plastic to improve prices fetched for recyclable material.

Communities could be funded to set up repair cafes. An attempt in Skibbereen was scuppered by the lack of insurance cover. Insurance companies need to be held to account for their refusal to cover community schemes. O’Donovan’s hotel in Clonakilty had to stop the rent a bike scheme through lack of insurance. This needs addressing countywide and nationwide.  Repair cafes and freecycle groups keep materials out of the waste stream for longer and provide opportunities for socialising and innovative business. (Community). Principles of the circular economy should be adopted to keep as much material in circulation for as long as possible in its different forms before it finally goes for recycling.

Recycling Centre with more space could devote and area for people to buy or take for free others unwanted but usable items. Skibbereen has Lisheens House which takes used furniture and sells it for funds and is a much valued resource for furniture and for assistance with mental health.

Food waste: The average household in Ireland is responsible for 117kgs of Food Waste pa. Provision of land for allotments and community gardens in town areas provide not only a space to restore well being and meet others, but also a place to grow food.(Community) This reduces food miles (Energy), is more likely to be produced organically (Biodiversity) and can provide composting areas to keep food and vegetable waste out of the urban waste stream. One Green Village Baltimore is setting up such a scheme. In areas where this cannot happen, collection points at the local recycling centres could be serviced by local farmers or other enterprise with space and facilities to compost efficiently. Money could be recouped by selling bags of compost. Tidy towns and other interested parties could be involved in smaller scale ventures, perhaps on street and housing estate level. This is being looked at by Sustainable Skibbereen. Local food markets selling local food reducing food miles (Energy) should be encouraged as people tend to bring their own bags and only buy what they need, rather than the ‘two for one’ special offers encouraging over buying where often the second often unwanted portion lands up in the bin.

 

Plastic.

It is quite clear that plastic has become a major pollutant of land, sea and more recently, air.

Another huge issue is the pollution of the seas, beaches and coastline especially by plastics. A lot of this is in the form of ghost fishing nets found at sea, but also it is clear that on some piers, Baltimore being an example, uncontrolled waste due to net maintenance, where small pieces of cut off nets are left lying around and blow straight into the sea, as is quite evident from the plastic collected from nearby beaches by volunteers. These could be hoovered up from the pier as soon as the net maintenance is finished if there was the machine and enough pressure to do so. The harbour masters should be educated to see the problems of waste plastic in the oceans and given the responsibility of clearing up everything. In my experience some people ignore the small pieces as the large nets are put to one side. Collection of plastics from the sea by boats is encouraged but it is common knowledge that a lot of rubbish is still thrown overboard out of sight of land. County Cork could work towards a more responsible fishing industry community and port management. The County spends a considerable amount in disposal of unwanted nets collected at port and the reason for this waste could be examined with the purpose of reducing it. The leisure craft side also holds a huge responsibility here. (Maritime Cork)

The Blue Flags awarded to beaches should include an element where the rubbish on the beach is included in the assessment for the award. (Green infrastructure). This should be made clear on the beaches themselves and visitors encouraged to take their litter home. On the busier beaches in the summer a beach patrol could be set up a mix of funded workers and volunteers to make visitors aware of the damage done to wildlife and a bit of fun around clearing up.

Ultimately because the plastics industry is driven by the oil industry and the marketing of plastic products is production driven not consumer led, there is a huge role for government on local, national and European levels. Presently the responsibility for disposal is pushed squarely in the shoulders of the consumer and the costs of disposal / recycling borne by them and the County Council. The choice of wrappings in the supermarkets is skewed in the case of fruit and veg towards plastic wrapped fruit as it is usually cheaper and so much easier to pick up one pack rather than select 6 individual apples for example.  Plastic is an amazing product which does its job exceedingly well but it shouldn’t be an instantly disposable product. We have only got to this stage because the cost of disposal/ recycling has not been taken into account in the manufacture. This has to be reversed. And less plastic used in wrapping will also reduce the amount of plastic rubbish strewn in our hedgerows and beaches. It is difficult to see how to dissuade the section of public who throw rubbish out of car windows and dump bags in the countryside.

 

Although Ireland recycles 40% of its waste, recycling of plastics has been shown to be a poor system. In the best of worlds it can only be recycled a small number of times and only 9% is generally recycled. How does Cork County Council check that what is sent for recycling actually gets recycled? This is an important question in the light of recent reports where UK recycling has been found on Turkish beaches.  Technologies should be looked at where plastic can be recycled locally ( Energy) or turned back into oil by pyrolysis to use as a raw material Incineration is a short term answer and its value increased by producing heat or electricity, but it is controversial as unless very carefully run it produces air pollutants. Incineration should not therefore be relied on as a way to remove plastic waste. Certain plastics can be used to produce long lasting structural plastics for domestic and commercial use such as fences and outdoor structures. This could be more easily achieved by better sorting of plastics at the source of collection to provide a cleaner supply. Deposit on bottles is a system long operated successfully in Germany. There is no reason why the reverse vending machines cannot be used in Ireland. Wy not start in County Cork? The Refill program for drinking water refilling stations reduces the need for plastic bottles of water (Energy). This is already in place I Skibbereen and Baltimore and could be further be rolled out in Cork County with the help of community groups, such as One Green Village Zero Waste and Tidy Towns. Keep cups are a growing trend but it has been up to individuals to take this up. Coffee outlets need to be encouraged, perhaps by. Increasing the tax on single use cups and reducing tax on the keep cups. The County Council and UCC have set a good example here by banning the disposables. While some single use plastics are being banned, the Council should take the matter to Government to reduce the production of the single use plastics again maybe by taxation and invest in development to produce long lasting reusable containers for transport of goods which can be taken back up the supply chain to be refilled. This could happen if suppliers got together to streamline container designs and rationalise supply chains. Tax incentives could work with supermarkets given a break if they adopt such schemes. Compostible containers have their place but it’s often confusing as to whether they are fully compostable in the domestic situation or whether they need high temperature composting by commercial facilities. Plastic producers could accordingly be taxed on the amount of material used for single use plastic bags for instance, or given the responsibility of their disposal or recycling. If being imported from outside the EU plastic rich products could be subject to higher import tax. The number of different types of plastic should also be reduced to enable easier recycling. The council could continue the analysis of their own (plastic) waste and look to its reduction. There could be prizes and recognition for companies who reduce their waste by a given amount.

Textiles usually include some synthetic forms these days, so a form of plastic. Waste is partly created by cheap imported clothing, items being worn very few times before discarding. Charity shops and others selling second hand clothing could have rates reductions as they are keeping clothing out of the waste stream. Enterprises using used cloth and other materials could be encouraged though schools and universities

Categories : Herb Ville, Sustainable Skibbereen News, Tidy Towns, Zero Waste
Skibbereen Recycling

Why Recycle when you can reduce?

Posted by Sekeeta Crowley 
· March 5, 2020 

The Tipping Point

With so much in the news about the likelihood of reaching a tipping point for climate a change and biodiversity, it struck me that we are facing a different tipping point, this one in a more postive sense.

Led by Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough globally and Saoi O’Connor and Alicia O’Sullivan locally, people are waking up to the global catastrophe facing us and although some groups still haven’t ‘got’ it and governments, it seems, are still keen to greenwash actions, the general public have a growing awareness of what they can do on a smaller scale. All these smaller actions add up to a positive tipping point. We’ve not reached it yet, but it is approaching!

Look at the growing number of organisations…Extinction Rebellion, the Zero waste and Rewilding movement as some examples which if added on to the longer established organisations such as WWF, Friends of the Earth, Geenpeace show the spread of DIY action on a more local scale. There is a huge amount of scientific data, far more available in the public domain and now reported on more frequently, clearly showing the state we are in, so there is no excuse for non action. UCC have been getting awards for being a green university, and have been organising so many environmental events, it is a huge inspiration.

The Tidy Towns Movement has now gone way beyond begonias and litter picking. In our own community in Skibbereen and Baltimore Tidy Towns are actively involved in projects aimed at improving biodiversity. Look out for the public training sessions. Schools are joining the plastic free4schools, Rory Jackson has been leading transition year groups to categorise the waste they pick up on their beach forays. Others quietly pick rubbish off the streets and beaches.

Paula Marten has her Paula’s Positive Tips stand to take places to help people reduce their plastic use. Supermarkets are now selling some items which help the customer achieve this. There is Maggy’s, Soap box and others on the market, and Twig refill station in Clonakilty doing the same. So much is happening. Why not send us anything that has inspired you to action, or something you are doing already, which is helping us along the road to reach the positive tipping point?

Categories : Sustainable Skibbereen News

Cycle to school in Skibbereen!

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· March 2, 2020 

Starting on Thursday 5th March children in Skibbereen will be able to cycle safely to school as part of the new Cycle Bus scheme.

Three schools are taking part- St Patrick’s Boys, Abestrewry National and the Skibbereen Gaelscoil.  Any students who want to cycle safely to school can register with their school and join the convoy as it travels through the town, picking up cyclists on the way and delivering them to the three schools.

The convoy will run on Thursdays and be accompanied by adult volunteeers and a cycling Ban Garda.  It is being organsied by Katie Mann of Cycle Sense.  

Cycle Sense write “Soon children in Skibbereen will be able to go to school on their bike by joining a Cycle Bus (a group of cyclists supervised by marshals) This group will stop at various places around town and finish at the school… Watch this space!”

To find out more contact your school.

Why cycle to school?

In the Uk and Ireland many local authorities and cities are encouraging cycling for all generations.  Broxap reports

With children spending more time behind screens than outside, cycling can be a healthy and fun way of encouraging children to enjoy the outdoors. People of all ages can enjoy cycling, but learning to ride from a young age will equip children with a skill for life.  Cycling to school is a good starting point to get children out and about and on their bikes. Providing cycle parking at school will encourage more pupils to ride to school.

Benefits of Cycling To School

  • Encourages independence and builds confidence
  • Good for the environment
  • Reduces congestion – especially around school gates, making it safer
  • Provides an active start to the day, children will be more alert in lessons

Pictured are Katie of Cycle Sense and Brian of Sustainable Skibbereen and St Patrick’s BNS.

 

Categories : Sustainable Skibbereen News

Tidy Towns Clean Up

Posted by Sustainable Skibbereen 
· June 12, 2018 

 

Welcome to Sustainable Skibbereen

Who are we?

 

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We are a collaboration of groups based in Skibbereen working to make our town and environment attractive and sustainable .

Members

Our members include Skibbereen Tidy Towns, Chamber of Commerce, Incredible Edible, Apple Town, Herb Ville, Plastic Recycling Project, Wildlife Group, Men’s Sheds, Skibbereen Walks and Zero Waste.  We are a not-for-profit organisation supported financially by Cork County Council, The Gwendoline Harold Barry Trust, Skibbereen Chamber of Commerce and Tidy Towns.  We are working with the Heritage Centre, Schools, Russagh Mill Hostel, Taste of West Cork Food Festival and Co-Action.

Sustainability in Ireland

“Sustainable Development in Ireland sets out the challenges and options to ensure that quality of life and general well-being can be improved and sustained. Translating these goals is simple. It starts with each individual, in the community, taking a first step.  Many people are already contributing to a sustainable future in their day to day lives. Many others only need to make small adjustments to everyday actions to reach the Sustainable Development goals. Education and awareness initiatives can help us meet these Goals”.   Tidy Towns Ireland.

EU Sustainability

“The EU Next Steps for a Sustainable European Future 2030 is committed to development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. A life of dignity for all within the planet’s limits that reconciles economic prosperity and efficiency, peaceful societies, social inclusion and environmental responsibility is at the essence of sustainable development.’

next-steps-sustainable-europe-2016

Sustainable Skibbereen Projects

We have started a number of projects around the town to protect and enhance its environment.  We will be launching soon with a website and full information about our projects.

In the meantime please click the link below to our contact form and send us a message and/or ask to be kept informed by joining our emailing list.

Contact Us

You can message us and be kept informed by clicking the link here, and joining our mailing list.  Volunteers, collaborators, suggestions, donations and offers of help all welcome.

CLICK THE LINKS HERE TO

EMAIL US

Facebook /sustainableskibbereen

Twitter  @sustainableskib

Committee:

Chair: Bev Cotton, Vice Chair: Paul Granaghan, Treasurer: Susan Boland.  Address c/o Russagh Mill Hostel, Castletownsend Rd.  email  contact@sustainableskibbereen.com  tel: 089 4352675  Bank TSB Skibbereen.

 

 

 

one tidy town shared doc Image Map

 

one ticy town Image Map

Calling all residents and business owners in Skibbereen.

We are hosting a WEEK LONG clean up before theSuperValu Ireland national tidy towns judging competition commences next week!!

Every night Monday to Friday this week we will be going out doing one big clean sweep of the town. Meeting at 7 PM behind the Fairfield bar.

Can you come out just one night and help us?

Think how you could improve your own premises:
– Brushing
– weeding the footpath
– cleaning moss from the base of your building
– washing windows
– power hosing your building
– painting your building or gates
– hanging flower baskets or putting out pots of plants

We lose marks every year in the competition due to unkept premises, litter and especially cigarette butts!

Please rally together this week and see what you can do for beautiful Skibbereen! 😊

Let’s win silver this year!!

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