Cork Week 2018 has been awarded Gold Certification by the International ‘Sailors for the Sea’ Clean Regatta programme with the event sustainability partners MaREI Centre for Marine & Renewable Energy and An Taisce’s Clean Coasts programme.

The Clean Regattas programme is the world’s only sustainability certification for water-based events. The initiative helps people run more environmentally friendly events to protect local waters and beyond, raising the bar for ocean health around the world. “We are thrilled to support the Volvo Cork Week in their efforts to educate participants on environmental protection by serving as a model for responsible sailing.”– Robyn Albritton, Sustainability Director, Sailors for the Sea.

"The ocean is in crisis, every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic enters the ocean from land"

The ocean is in crisis, every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic enters the ocean from land and 40% of the oceans are heavily affected by human activity, including pollution, overfishing and destructive fishing practices, and the loss of coastal habitats.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club implemented a range of Clean Regattas Best Practices to reduce our environmental impact, including the provision of reusable water bottles and hydration stations, compostable food and coffee containers, paper straws, energy conservation, online registration forms, and an information campaign on reducing single-use plastics and marine litter. 

Aoife Deane, Communications & Public Engagement Manager for MaREI commented “Our collaboration with Clean Coasts on supporting Volvo Cork Week in their efforts to run a cleaner, greener regatta represented an important opportunity for us to engage the sailors and members of the public on sustainability issues such as ocean degradation, marine litter and plastics”