Old Small Boat Sails Urgently Needed for Litter-Picking Programme for Primary Schools.

Every year, thousands of worn out sails are discarded all over Ireland. Picker Pals, are rescuing this fabric and giving it a new lease on life. The programme needs any old small boat sails that might be clogging up attics, crowding out sheds or gumming up garages.

The sails all go to the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun where they are crafted into Picker Packs which contain a child and adult litter-picking tool as well as gloves, hi-vis vests and fun environmental story and activity books. The Picker Pack is taken home by a different student every weekend. The family then go on a litter picking adventure in their local area with the child reporting back to their classmates. Over 1200 classrooms schools are joining the programme this year all over the country.

“We now urgently need that lovely sailcloth. It’s perfect for our requirements and it makes us happy to be able to divert it from landfill,” Patrick Jackson, creator of the programme said. “We’re looking for Laser, Oppie, Mirror, Pico, Squib and any similar weight small boat sails. Unfortunately, heavier sails from larger boats can’t be used at the moment. We’ll take anything that is not too mouldy or dirty and be putting the fabric to good use immediately.”

You can fill in a form here and we’ll be in touch.

The world faces a global crisis of waste in the environment. Every part of the natural world is affected. We urgently need to find real, practical solutions to this crisis. Raising awareness and actually rolling up our sleeves is an essential part of the solution. Picker Pals does just that by giving young people and their families the tools and positive motivation to steward their local environments. This sail upcycling project is just one of the many ways we try and support a new generation of young environmentalists.