While the majority of our beaches and harbours are falling short of clean status, Old Head in Mayo is ‘clean to European norms’. That’s according to a nationwide litter survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL ).
40 per cent of 32 coastal areas surveyed were clean, but there was a rise in areas branded ‘littered’, among them Keel beach. Beaches, harbours, rivers and their immediate environs were monitored by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce in June and July.
The An Taisce report for Old Head stated: "The overall impression with regard to litter at Old Head was a good one, with a virtual absence of litter throughout.
"There was a 'Leave nothing behind, only your footprints in the sand' sign to discourage littering on the beach and a '2 Minute Beach Clean' Board to encourage a quick clean-up.
"The notice boards / signage were in good order and the immediate hinterland was well presented and maintained. There was very little litter throughout the area surveyed, with marine rope tangled in the lying seaweed the most obvious."
The report for Keel stated: "By virtue of stony nature of some of this beach, on first impressions the area seemed not to bad with regard to litter; However, closer inspection revealed significant marine related items (rope, nets and fishing line on the beach ) and alcohol related litter (trapped in the marram grass ).
"As well as a wide variety of food related items, there were also some car tyres, battery and dead seagull; the style of litter bins were such that they were not covered (litter could easily blow out with gust of wind or be picked at by birds ); there didn't appear to be any bins at the overflowing parking area to the left of the access road; the area surrounding the various businesses were clean and tidy."
"The story is a positive one in that we’ve seen a welcome rise in the number of clean beaches and harbours compared to our study of two years ago," comments Conor Horgan of IBAL. "This is especially encouraging given the number of people who are staycationing and availing of our coastal amenities this year. There is evidence that many local authorities have upped their game in terms of additional bins, facilities and signage.
"However, at the bottom end of the table, we’ve seen many areas deteriorate from ‘moderately littered’ to ‘littered’. As well as local authorities, credit is due to growing number of Clean Coast volunteer groups, now 1,500-strong, who work so hard to keep our beaches free of litter. Their efforts are clearly bearing fruit," adds Mr Horgan.
The most common forms of litter found by the assessors were cigarette butts, sweet wrappers, disposable masks and plastic bottles, with coffee cups also featuring strongly. Alcohol cans were found in almost half of all sites.
"The majority of these litter item are plastics, whose impact on the marine environment is a recognised source of global concern.Cigarette butts, for example, may appear harmless, but they are in effect a single-use plastic which poses a real danger to our sea life."
Research shows a single butt can contaminate up to 200 litres of water. "We all need to realise that the implications of litter along our coasts go beyond tourism and recreation. It presents an existential threat to our planet."
