Runners and flip flops have been washing up along Donegal beaches for the past month after containers spilt off a Maersk Shanghai ship near North Carolina last year.Flip
Beaches at other parts of the country including Valentia, Fanore and Connemara have also reported coming across the footwear.
And they have also reached Cornwall in the UK, Brest and Brittany in France, the Azores, parts of Spain and Jersey.
Liam MacNamara of Burren Shores Beachcombing and More told the Irish Times the companies responsible, Great Wolf Lodge and Just Speed have been contacted.
“I have a contact in Florida who took up the case for me and he made contact with the companies . . . Just Speed and Great Wolf Lodge have confirmed that they had a shipment on that boat.”
Nike have also been contacted regarding the lost containers but said “they weren’t aware of any containers that were missing”.
Mr MacNamara is concerned at the potential environmental impact of plastic footwear in the oceans having seen bite marks on several pairs in Fanore.
Nike have also been contacted regarding the lost shipments but said “they weren’t aware of any containers that were missing”.
“Most of the soles themselves are made from plastic. The material side of it wouldn’t be overly harmful because that would break down, but the plastic of course never breaks down. And it just gets smaller and smaller, eventually it could end up in fish.”
The clean-up now falls upon volunteers. In 2015, ink cartridges belonging to Hewlett Packard washed up on beaches and the American multinational company later made a donation to environmental groups as an apology.
