GHYC supports the movement to lessen the use single use plastics and specifically from sailing events. Competitors at GHYC events are encouraged to think sustainability and not use single use plastic especially drinks bottles. Filtered water to refill your bottles is available from the club yard.
As a Yacht Club, GHYC is dependent on the sea and everything to do with it. We are lucky to be situated on a beautiful coastline and we feel responsible for it. Recently we have noticed that there is more and more plastic being washed up onto Glandore Pier and we do not want ignore it. Club members are regularly seen collecting marine plastic/refuse at low tide and removing it in partnership with the local authority. Pictured below are Club Members; Cassian, Rua, Tiarnan, Zaiba and Saorla Mahmood displaying one of their recent epic hauls of marine plastics!
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An early step for the club was to team up with the Clean Seas initiative and we have signed their pledge to take part in the fight against plastic in our oceans. Here’s some relevant facts:
On our agenda is to:
- add reusable bottles to our range of GHYC merchandising, giving every member an easy and inexpensive option of leaving those single use bottles at home
- find eco-friendly alternatives for all of the club’s cleaning supplies and reducing the packaging by 80%
- find compostable alternatives for packed lunches for all our sailing events
- develop a strategy to include the issue of maritime pollution into our sailing courses, as we see this as a great platform to educate future sailors – in progress
- make facts and figures accessible to everybody in the club house to point out the necessity of action – ✔