Ramora UK, a leading Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) company, has launched an innovative crowd funding campaign aimed at establishing a sustainable solution for the disposal of out-of-date marine flares on the Isle of Wight.
Having already assisted in previous Flare amnesties on the Isle of Wight and many other areas of the UK, Ramora UK are planning to deliver a compliant and free-to-use service providing distress flare collections and disposal for the Isle of Wight boating community.
The need for this service has been evident for a number of years and the availability of acceptable/legal alternatives is reducing each year. Since the Ministry of Defence teams stopped collecting out of date flares from MCA stations in 2009 there have been several attempts to produce a convenient and practical solution but none have offered the key requirements and national footprint.
Whilst this particular campaign is focused on delivering a solution to the Isle of Wight, Ramora UK are rolling out additional campaigns which will ultimately provide a nationwide network of collection sites.
One of the key aims of the crowdfunding campaign is to not only provide funding to establish the various sites, but also deliver the service through its life at no cost to those using it. Once the sites are established the service will be managed and run alongside commercial collections undertaken by Ramora UK and anyone dropping flares into the sites can do so free of charge.
David Welch MIExpE, Managing Director of Ramora UK has said:
“We decided to look at crowd funding as an option for these sites following interest received during a number of flare amnesty events and the overwhelming need for a consistent and legally compliant service to deal with the many thousands of out of date distress flares being held across the country. Equally, we wanted to avoid the need to charge those accessing the service, which alongside being a pleasant change in todays all too commercial world, it also discourages illegal dumping as there is no reason not to drop the flares off to one of our sites”.
The campaign is currently live on https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/out-of-date-flare-disposal-isle-of-wight.
