Trash from Northern Ireland will continue to wash up on our shores for weeks
After bales of shredded plastic were dumped into the Penobscot Bay Mainers are asking, why are we taking out-of-state trash? Author: Sam Rogers (NEWS CENTER Maine) Published: 7:42 PM EST December 16, 2020 Updated: 7:42 PM EST December 16, 2020
SEARSPORT, Maine When you visit Sears Island, you expect to explore walking trails and beaches, not stumble upon trash. But that s exactly what island-goers saw on the shoreline last week.
“I saw a picture that someone had posted, and I was like wow, that is horrifying, Sally Brophy said.
Brophy is part of the Upstream Watch advocacy group that fights to preserve and protect rivers in the mid-coast. Brophy and members of the group spent days picking up trash after an off-loading accident dumped two bales of shredded plastic into the water.
To our readers,
Maltese cargo ship bound for PERC dumps plastic in Penobscot BayCommunity rallies around cleanup effort
By Fran Gonzalez | Dec 15, 2020
Photo by: Fran Gonzalez Gary Allen of Bar Harbor picks up bits of plastic from the shores of Sears Island Dec. 10. He played music from his portable sound system to make the work fun.
Searsport An unknown amount of plastic debris from a Maltese cargo ship spilled into Penobscot Bay in late November, and shreds of the loose material have been washing ashore on Sears Island this week.
Approximately 10,000 metric tons of a plastic mixture arrived from Northern Ireland aboard the Malta-registered 447-foot cargo ship MV
We re getting Europe s waste? US hit by plastic debris lost from UK ship Karen Mc
Brightly coloured plastic debris from the UK has been washing up along the coast of Maine in the US after a shipment bound for incineration fell into the sea.
The plastic debris, part of a 10,000-tonne consignment from Re-Gen Waste, a company based in Newry, Northern Ireland, has infuriated environmentalists and locals surprised to learn that the north-eastern state of Maine is importing plastic from almost 3,000 miles away.
Volunteers struggling to clear the waste from the shoreline of Sears Island, alongside a company employed to tackle it, fear they are fighting a losing battle as more plastic washes up with every tide.
BBC News
By Conor Macauley
Published
image copyrightEthan Andrews/The Free Press
A clean-up is under way on the east coast of America after several tonnes of Northern Ireland household waste ended up in the sea there.
It had been part of a much larger shipment sent to fuel a US waste incinerator by County Down-based company Re-Gen.
Two large cubes of shredded waste fell as they were being off-loaded at the docks in a storm.
Re-Gen said it was a one-off, extremely unfortunate occurrence .
One of the cubes of waste - containing about a tonne of material - could not be recovered.
3SHARES
When talking to Donald Cote at his Vassalboro Wildlife Center last month he mentioned one of his pet peeves: owners of exotic pets releasing them into the wild after they get bored with them or can no longer provide the care required.
Buying, breeding, selling, and owning exotics are a big–and often illegal–business; purchases can be made between states or overseas. If you have an animal without the appropriate license or permit, Don believes you’ll eventually be found out. Friends and family members know you have something “cool” and usually can’t keep it to themselves. Eventually, authorities will be notified, the animal(s) confiscated, and the owner fined. Sadly, it’s the animal that pays the ultimate price by being humanely destroyed or kept in a zoo or sanctuary. Species common to the trade include alligators, snakes, spiders, tortoises/turtles, lizards, birds, fish, small mammals, and even big cats.