In Mallorca, a Design student has invented, as her final degree thesis, a system to prevent the loss of sand that the thousands of tourists who frequent the Caló des Moro, in the municipality of Santanyí, inadvertently take with them.
Caló des Moro – a place name that is completely inappropriate these days, which I hope will change soon – is one of the most visited beaches on the island. Instagrammers take pictures there, other Instagrammers see them and go there, and it’s non-stop. No Cuqui tourist can pass through Mallorca without going there. The Design student explains that every time we visit a cove, we subconsciously take a piece of it with us: “We don’t realize it, but, unintentionally, the sand sticks to our bodies and things. We all end up getting rid of it because it annoys us. It’s on the feet, bikinis, towels, bags… This involuntary act affects the essence of the cove and the environment more than we think.” The numbers speak for themselves: each person who visits a beach takes approximately 35 grams of sand with them: “It seems like a small amount but, multiplied by three months of high season and about two thousand people a day, it’s about six tons per year.” Six tons of sand in each cove!
And now the important thing: the invention. The invention in question consists of a wooden box and two brushes. Every bather who leaves the beach is invited to brush off the sand that has stuck to his body, and also from his towels and bags. In this ingenious way, the sand falls into the box which, I suppose, is eventually emptied on the beach. And it starts again. It seems from all evidence that it is an idea as brilliant as it is difficult to implement. I don’t see how to have brigades of controllers to notify each bather that they should brush their teeth. I don’t know how the academic authorities must have assessed this final degree work, but, after it was reported in the Diario de Mallorca, I reckon that at least with a summa cum laude and congratulatory pats on the back.
