Pool & Spa Scene can exclusively report that an investigation is underway into the quality and environmental calibre of some crushed glass pool filter media being supplied for use in UK swimming pools.
Leading commercial, as well as residential pool maintenance specialists, DG Leisure, that supports customers nationwide, is calling on the industry to boycott the media until suppliers clean up their act. “This is nothing short of an environmental catastrophe,” said DG Leisure Managing Director, Glyn Lucas.
“I am calling on the industry to put the planet before profit and to take a moral stand by stopping putting this shit into our filtration, drainage, our waterways, our water course and our seas,” he continued. “The industry is unwittingly championing this environmental catastrophe that is no different from going home tonight, having a take-away and throwing our rubbish in a river.”
Glyn explained how on typical maintenance visits, his team are topping up filters with what turns out to be highly contaminated glass media.
WATER POLLUTION
“It is a bit like you are ‘beachcombing’ after a storm as all that debris floats to the top,” he continued. “Not only is all that debris being washed into the pool in which you are swimming, it is being back washed into our water-ways at a time when our local water boards are being fined for this sort of action.”
And he declared: “It should not be purchased. As an industry we should boycott it until the suppliers get their act together.”
DG Leisure is part of an informal consortium that has been formed to investigate the problem and to select solutions to help raise standards. The lobby group already includes representatives from ISPE, PWTAG and SPATA.
Speaking via Linked In, Jimmy Lamb, Commercial Sales Manager for the Pollet Pool Group endorsed the campaign. “It is well documented that micro plastics have a huge detrimental effect to marine life and in turn the whole eco system on which life on earth depends.
“I’m loathe to use the term manufacturer, as the stench coming of this waste is as if it’s been dragged out of a landfill site and stuffed into plastic bags and sold. But manufacturers, suppliers, installers and operators, need to be aware and change their ways,” he continued.
“What looks, on face value, to be a good and economic alternative to sand/gravel is actually very costly to the environment and needs to be stopped now!”
Anyone experiencing similar issues with glass filter media are being urged to contact Pool & Spa Scene magazine and their respective trade associations to help combine all relevant research information.
