Volunteers in Mayo remove approximately 2.2 tonnes of litter for the Big Beach Clean

Clean Coasts received overwhelming support and commitment from Mayo volunteers and communities for the Big Beach Clean weekend took place last weekend.

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.

Once more, volunteers were asked to join the call to action, no matter how far from the coast. Statistics show that the number one cause of marine litter is litter dropped in towns and cities and getting involved in the Big Beach Clean has been a way for residents of non-coastal counties to help prevent litter entering our waterways tackle the problem at its source.

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

In Mayo, 24 groups banded together to host cleanups removing an estimated 2.2 tonnes of litter. Among these groups, we were joined by Keep Our Beaches Clean, Western Care Association, Killeen NS, Wild Atlantic Yoga, Achill Amblers, Leave No Trace and other groups, individuals, households and businesses. These groups tackled litter in different locations such as Bertra, Westport, Ross Beach, Ballinrobe, Emlagh and more.

Communities from Clean Coasts group Keep our Beaches Clean hosted several clean-ups on Saturday, September 17, in different locations. Among them, Killeen NSC tackled marine litter in Carrownisky, removing almost 4kg of marine litter. Other volunteers, households and groups within the Keep Our Beaches Clean hosted beach cleans at Emlagh, Old Head Beach, and Doughmakeone. Overall, the group noticed that their local beaches weren’t too littered, thanks to the work this community carries out all year round.

Leave no Trace volunteers organised a Big Beach Clean event on Saturday, September 17, in Westport. The group said: "The Point appeared to be very clean, but when you collect all the little pieces washed ashore, and look in hidden places, it all builds up to a lot of rubbish, all bound for the sea. Single-use drink containers, fishing rope and dog-faeces were the most common waste items that we recorded on our litter survey form. Part of a dinner plate was the most unusual item that we found."

Each year this initiative is also an opportunity for Big Beach Clean Mayo 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/.