Environmentalists oppose to Danish municipality's method of cleaning beach

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) – Local environmentalists have reacted strongly to a Danish municipality's practice of cleaning the town's beach, saying the strategy is only a stopgap measure, a local public broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

The Slagelse town municipality in western Denmark utilized tractors to clear a local beach of seaweed and plastic waste, according to the Danmark Radio.

The one-time procedure cost Danish taxpayers $150,000, and the municipality repeated it twice a week during the summer season, arguing that the practice was common in Spain's summer resorts of Mallorca and Gran Canaria.

However, environmental specialists contacted by Danmarks Radio vehemently opposed to the strategy.

The Danish National Institute of Aquatic Resources' Torkel Gissel Nielsen stressed that the method is only a short-term fix.

"I think it's a complete blunder. Because you remove the seaweed from the beach with a large noisy tractor, then drive it into the water and deposit it," he explained.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk