New report labels two Cork beaches as the most “heavily littered” in Ireland
We need to do better.
A new survey conducted by Irish Businesses Against Litter found only two beaches to be “heavily littered,” and both of them were in Cork: White Bay Beach and Cork Harbour.
The “Summer Litter Survey” was conducted by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce throughout June and July.
According to the An Taisce report, Cork Harbour at Blackrock Castle “was heavily littered with marine litter and cans from outdoor drinking, coffee cups and plastic packaging. There was an even mix of long and short lie litter and amongst the marine and food related litter there was a discarded wheelbarrow.”
The beach at White Bay was “stuffed with small pieces of broken up long-lie litter and sewage-related litter such as cotton buds and bottle tops.”
Two other Cork beaches were noted in the survey. Kinsale Harbour was categorised as “moderately littered” and Castletownbere harbour “littered.” No Cork beaches were listed in the top category – “clean to European norms.”
“The majority of these litter item are plastics, whose impact on the marine environment is a source of global concern,” says Conor Horgan, of the IBAL organisation. “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.”
“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 and way of life.”
Clean-up group Clean Coasts Ballynamona, a volunteer organisation dedicated to preserving Cork’s beaches, commented on the report, saying: “We are in the process of cleaning #WhiteBay and we will have it pristine – but it will take 000’s of hours to deal with the problems there. It has sewage related litter, marine litter and litter generated from anti-social behaviour.”
The group shared evidence of the quantity and kind of litter it encounters while cleaning.
Just a reminder of what we’ve already cleared from #Whitebay beach in #CorkHarbour. pic.twitter.com/YmjfkTHjBd
— Clean Coasts Ballynamona (@Ballynamona) July 29, 2021
This was filmed last Tuesday afternoon on the smaller section of #WhitebayBeach in #CorkHarbour. Little did we realise it’s relevance in light of the latest @IrishLitter survey released today. pic.twitter.com/TKqh0g29NC
— Clean Coasts Ballynamona (@Ballynamona) July 29, 2021
Header image via Twitter/@Ballynamona
