Big Beach Clean
2022 in
Inishowen
16.08.22
THE Big Beach Clean
initiative is back and Clean Coasts, supported by Cully
and Sully, are calling people all across Inishowen to
register to receive clean-up kits and join the world
biggest clean-up.
In 2021, a record number of over 400 clean-ups were
organised by volunteers who removed 42 tonnes of litter
across the whole country. This represented a 5% decrease
in litter found across Ireland, compared to the previous
year campaign, which reflects the incredible work that
Irish volunteers do all year round to tackle litter, as
well as more conscious behaviours by beach users. |
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Big Beach Clean 2022. Left
to right: Elaine Doyle, Clean Coasts Campaigns Officer,
Colum O'Sullivan and Cullen Allen, founders of Cully &
Sully. |
Last year in county
Donegal, over 500 volunteers organised clean-ups in 25
different locations, removing approximately 3 tonnes of
litter over the weekend.
The Big Beach Clean is an annual call to action and this
year it will run from 16th to 18th September, as part of
the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), operated
internationally by Ocean Conservancy. This
call-to-action invites communities and volunteers around
the country to remove litter from around the Irish coast
after the end of the bathing season.
This initiative is also an opportunity for 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. This will 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. |
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Big Beach Clean 2022. Left
to right: Elaine Doyle, Clean Coasts Campaigns Officer,
Cullen Allen, founder of Cully & Sully and Sinead McCoy,
Coastal Programmes Manager at Clean Coasts. |
The 2021 results have been
shared with Ocean Conservancy and, in Ireland and
regionally in Donegal, they have been used to shape
Clean Coasts campaigns designed both for registered
groups and the general public, tackling the top 10
offenders, such as cigarette butts, plastic bottles and
food packaging.
This year, Clean Coasts are calling not only Clean
Coasts groups and people who would traditionally be
involved in environmental activities to join. Clean
Coasts, with the support of Content Creators, are asking
everybody in the community to get involved and find out
more about the benefits of taking part in a beach clean
and international citizen science project, which go
beyond the environmental aspect of the initiative.
Our ocean supports livelihood and certain businesses,
from hospitality to tourism, to fishing, and more depend
on a clean and healthy ocean. People engaged in water
sports, whether in a professional way or as a hobby,
would join this call to action to protect their
“playground”. Some artists might draw inspiration from
the ocean, and, for this reason, they want to do
something to protect it.
Coastal communities take pride in the beauty of the
place they live in and want to keep it clean; moreover,
a cleaner place to live means having better health and
wellbeing. Finally, in the overall climate emergency,
some people want to be an active part of the solution,
and by taking part in this citizen science project, they
will be able to play a key role in the establishment of
future policies and campaigns.
Registration will again be open to all residents of
Ireland, no matter how far from the coast they are
based. Statistics show that the number one cause of
marine litter is litter dropped in towns and cities.
Getting involved in the Big Beach Clean is a way for
residents of non-coastal counties to help prevent litter
entering our waterways and seas by holding a clean-up no
matter where they are in the country and tackling the
problem at source.
To register visit the Clean Coasts website at
www.cleancoasts.org
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