A municipality in Denmark has come under fire after reports that it spends more than $150,000 dollars a year on a bulldozer that removes seaweed and plastic from the beach only to dump it back into the sea.
A video released by DR appears to show the bulldozer driving a few yards into the water before dumping its contents into the sea.
Environmental experts have expressed dismay at the practice, with professor Torkel Gissel Nielsen of the Danish Technical Institute describing it to DR as “completely idiotic.”.
Katherine Richardson, a professor in biological oceanography at the University of Copenhagen, agreed with Gissel Nielsen’s assessment.
In an interview with Danmarks Radio, however, Deputy Mayor Villum Christensen defended the method, arguing that beach goers want the beach to be “neat and clean” like holiday destinations in Southern Europe.
“We all have gone down south to the clean beaches in Mallorca and Gran Canaria,” Christensen said.
“It’s from there that I have taken the inspiration that when you come to Stillinge beach, it should be neat and clean. »