The annual nationwide survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL ) of beaches and harbours has shown Salthill to have improved to ‘Clean to European Norms’, while Lough Rea is again ‘littered’. Dog’s Bay beach has improved to ‘moderately littered’.
Overall, litter levels are on the rise, with only eight of 33 areas surveyed receiving the ‘Clean’ designation. Alongside its impact on tourism and recreation, IBAL is warning that coastal litter has grave implications for the future of our planet.
The An Taisce report for Salthill stated: “A great result for Salthill which scored quite poorly in 2021. The extensive survey site area included the beach, promenade and associated car park. Overall, it was very good with regard to litter, just some minor sea-borne food related items and occasional marine items e.g. rope/nets.
Dog fouling notices ‘Clean It Up, You Dirty Pup’ were imprinted along the ground and this appeared to be having the desired effect as they were just a couple of incidents of same - this is a huge improvement compared to a number of years ago.
“The area is well served by litter bins. All facilities/infrastructures were in good order. with the addition of what looks like some lovely new wooden seating lining the Prom.”
The An Taisce report for Dogs Bay Beach stated: “If it wasn’t for the scattered items, mostly along the high and low tide lines (a mix of both short-lie and long-lie items ), some of it marine related (e.g.fishing lines / nets / ropes ), food related items, dog fouling and cigarette butts, this would have been a top ranking site.
The parking area and associated pedestrian approach were well maintained and cared for.” Signage relating to Gurteen Bay and Dog’s Bay Beaches as ‘Special Area of Conversation’/ associated beach code were in very good order; life-belts were in good condition; the water was beautifully clear.”
The An Taisce report for Lough Rea stated: “A freshly presented and generally well maintained environment which was let down by an obvious litter presence, particularly in the car park area and perimeter of the green space; main items included sweet papers and cigarette butts, with lower levels of alcohol cans / bottles, fast-food wrappers, plastic bottles, coffee cups, plastic bags and clothing items; the remnants of fire / scorched earth were also visible. Seating, litter bins, cigarette butt units, recycle bins and general signage etc. were in very good order.”
Beaches, harbours, rivers and their immediate environs were monitored by An Taisce in June and July. While Tramore was again clean, many popular beaches slipped to ‘moderately littered’ status, among them Lahinch, Brittas Bay, Curracloe, Portmarnock, Strandhill and Clogherhead. Bundoran was again ‘littered’. By contrast, Salthill improved significantly.
“Unfortunately the improvement observed at our beaches last year seems to have reversed this time round,” commented IBAL’s Conor Horgan. “We had hoped that the decline in Covid-related litter might bring an improvement in overall cleanliness, added to the fact that many who staycationed last year would have travelled abroad this summer. Our most popular beaches are not heavily littered, but they’re not as clean as they should be.”
Coffee cups
Unsurprisingly there was a fall-off in Covid masks and gloves found, but also in alcohol-related litter which was linked to lockdown. Coffee cups remained a significant litter item, however, present in half of the areas surveyed. The most common forms of litter found by the assessors were cigarette butts, sweet wrappers and plastic bottles.
“Every day it seems we hear more of the dire consequences which marine litter, much of it plastic, holds for our planet,“ adds Mr Horgan. “We need to impress on people that simple individual actions such as discarding a coffee cup – or even a cigarette butt - have implications which stretch beyond the local environment.”
With 10 million tonnes of plastic ending up in our oceans each year, it is estimated that there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans within 30 years. Research shows a single cigarette butt can contaminate up to 200 litres of water.
