Volunteers in Meath remove approximately 1 tonne of litter for the Big Beach Clean

Volunteers in Meath removed approximately 1 tonne of litter for the Big Beach Clean that took place recently.

Clean Coasts received overwhelming support and commitment from Meath volunteers and communities for the Big Beach Clean weekend that took place between 16th and 18th September.

The Big Beach Clean is an annual call to action that runs as part of the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), operated internationally by Ocean Conservancy and invites communities and volunteers around the country to remove litter from around the Irish coast after the end of the bathing season.

This year, a record number of over 500 clean-ups were organised by volunteers who removed over 63 tonnes of litter nationwide.

In County Meath, 15 groups banded together to carry out clean-up events removing an estimated 1 tonne of litter over the weekend. Among these groups, we were joined by Bettystown Tidy Towns, Gormanston Tidy Towns and more. Groups in Meath tackled litter in several locations, including Newgrange, Bettystowns, Gormanston, Mornington, Laytown and more.

Clean Coasts group Bettystown Tidy Towns hosted their Big Beach Clean event on Saturday 17th September and removed 10 full bags of litter and other large items. The top litter item found by this group was wet wipes.

Clean Coasts group Gormanston Tidy Towns also hosted a Big Beach Clean event in their local area. A representative of the group said: “The beach looked in great shape during the week, so we only needed a small group to carry out the litter picking and the count. For the first year ever, we only collected one full bag of rubbish, which is a testament to the benefits of the daily litter picking on the beach.”

Each year this initiative is also an opportunity for Big Beach Clean Meath volunteers to get involved in a worldwide citizen science project, which entails collecting the amount and types of litter on Irish beaches and filling in Clean Coasts’ Marine Litter Data Cards to share with Ocean Conservancy, help heighten awareness about the issue of marine litter serving as an indicator of the magnitude of the problem and help shape future policies and campaigns.

So far, data collected from the International Coastal Cleanup have informed policy in a number of areas, leading to laws banning the use of plastic grocery bags; prohibiting smoking-related litter; encouraging the use of reusable bags; prohibiting mass balloon releases; and prohibiting foam food and beverage takeaway containers.

Cully and Sully supported the initiative again this year. Cullen Allen (Cully) said, “We were delighted with yet another amazing Big Beach Clean weekend. The Clean Coasts staff and volunteers were fantastic across the weekend, although we know many are out every weekend of the year. not just Big Beach Clean weekend. So Thank You all. This is one of our favourite initiatives across the year and it was so heartwarming to see the great turn out yet again for 2022.”

Clean Coasts and Cully and Sully have also teamed up to create some resources to help people educate themselves on which household items are recyclable, which ones aren't and how to correctly dispose of rubbish in your home as well as rubbish found on the beach. If you’re curious about recycling basics, common beach finds and how to dispose of them, what happens to our waste, stats on recycling in Ireland and more, head to recycling webpage at: https://cleancoasts.org/how-to-recycle/