TACKLING MARINE LITTER

Find out how we're helping keep Ireland's stunning shorelines tidy with Clean Coasts.

Ireland’s beaches received some much-needed TLC as part of Coca‑Cola’s Clean Coasts Week. Clean Coasts Ambassador and Pro Surfer, Easkey Britton urged volunteers to come together to protect and celebrate a beach they love after a United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) report estimated that 8 million individual pieces of litter enter the marine environment every day.

Marine litter includes materials which have been deliberately discarded, or accidentally lost on shore or at sea, as well as items that are carried out to sea from land, rivers, drainage, sewerage systems and even by the wind. In 2014 Clean Coasts, which has been operating for 13 years, removed 500,000 marine litter items from Ireland’s beaches.

“Clean Coasts Week is about the power of the ocean to connect. Through coming together to celebrate our coasts at Clean Coasts events around the country and by joining local groups for beach clean-ups we create a stronger sense of community, a community connected by the sea” said Easkey Britton. “No matter how challenging the problem of marine litter might seem, together, even a small act can lead to positive change.”

Speaking at the launch Annabel FitzGerald, Clean Coasts Manager, An Taisce said: “We are expecting more than 100 beaches to be cleaned by thousands of volunteers during Coca‑Cola Clean Coasts Week. Every piece of litter removed whether as part of a large beach clean or a #2MinuteBeachClean is one less item that will pollute our oceans or be ingested by marine life.”

Volunteers can also join Coastal Celebration events, including the National #2MinuteBeachClean Day, launch of Love Your Coast photography competition, film screenings, Coastal talks and Beat the Microbead Day. More details can be found on the Clean Coasts website: www.cleancoasts.org