CASE Construction Equipment has been utilised extensively in a project to clean up beaches across Europe.
The Beach Care Project has involved more than 400 students taking part in cleaning projects in the UK, France, Italy and Spain. As part of the scheme, 10,000 educational kits have also been provided to school children.
The project involved collaboration with academic and scientific institutions including the Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Spain’s Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC).
Starting in 2020 following an Italian TV documentary, the first beaches to benefit were at Rovigliano, in Campania, Italy, around the mouth of the Sarno river. The project was then expanded in 2021 to take in Carini Beach in Sicily, where two tonnes of mainly plastic waste was removed and at Foce Varano in Apulia, where 2.5-tonnes of waste was collected.
At the Cote d’Azur in France, activity involved ecological management of the Banquette of Posidonia Oceanica, a seagrass species vital for the marine ecosystem.
Further sites were developed in Tarragona in Spain and the project was part of the Posidonia Green Festival in Barcelona.
While many of the initial locations were city beaches, the final site to benefit from the project’s work was a river mouth at Thorney Bay Beach, on Canvey Island in the UK.
Working with parent company CNH Industrial, Case supplied a range of machines to help, including a 621G wheel loader and a TV370B compact tracked loader. The models were used to collect and load plastic waste from the sand, preventing it being washed into the sea. This plastic was then analysed by CNR and CNRS, before being recycled into educational toys.
“At CNH Industrial, sustainability informs everything that we do,” explained Daniela Ropolo, head of sustainable development initiatives. “Through this important international project, we are promoting the protection of the environment across generations. Its impact is getting bigger and bigger with each country we visit.”
Federico Bullo, head of Europe construction equipment CNH Industrial, added, “Case and its partners are cleaning beaches to give them back to the community, completing leading-edge academic research, educating and promoting responsible values among younger generations, and fostering interest and engagement in environmental protection and care.
“Since 2021, over 10,000 children learned about beach ecosystems, as the Beach Care Project was rolled out in schools, with educational materials and dedicated lessons.”
Barry Campagna, chairman of Canvey Bay Watch, one of the organisations behind the UK site, commented, “When the beach is clean, people show it more care and respect. Our efforts make people further appreciate the marine environment. It also enables other opportunities for local children to learn about the positive ecological impact they can make. Case’s machinery certainly makes our work easier.”
