#BreakUpWithPlastic
Find Yourself a Better Match This Valentines
This Valentine’s Day we are inviting Irish people to break up with plastic. This February 14th, ditch plastic and bring a reusable straw on a date.
With this initiative Clean Coasts want to raise further awareness about the global issue of plastic pollution and ask people to stop opting for single-use plastic. Ireland has some of the most diverse and spectacular coastlines in the world. However, an excessive use of plastic is not only damaging its image and polluting Irish oceans and seas, but it is also threatening our marine wildlife and people’s health.
Statistics show that, by 2050, the ocean will contain more plastic than fish. Although plastic generally takes between 450 and 1,000 years to decompose, it is still widely used for packaging and other disposable items in our daily life. As such, over a third of all produced plastic, such us straws, shopping bags or bottles, is used only once and then discarded.
Clean Coasts organizes hundreds of beach clean-ups every year, with the help of thousands of volunteers who remove a considerable amount of plastic litter from our coastline. With the help of everybody, our aim is to end plastic pollution.
To play an important role in our mission, end your toxic relation with plastic and find a better match.
For more details on this initiative and our work, please contact, Sinead McCoy, Coastal Communities Manager, email: smccoy@eeu.antaisce.org
Further images and details here.
ENDS
About Clean Coasts
Clean Coasts is a charity programme, run through the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce. Clean Coasts engages communities in the protection of Ireland’s beaches, seas and marine life.
Clean Coasts has grown over the years and now includes two main national clean-up drives – Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week and the Big Beach Clean. Our volunteering has expanded to include Corporate Volunteering and the Ocean Hero Awards also. Other aspects include the Green Coast Award, the Love Your Coast Photography competition, the Clean Coasts Roadshow for coastal communities and we are continuing to grow the Clean Coasts programme with the likes of Ocean Talks. The programme also operates several campaigns in Ireland including ‘Think Before You Flush’ and international campaigns ‘#2minutebeachclean’ and ‘Beat the Microbead’. The Clean Coasts volunteering effort engages communities in the protection and conservation of their local coastal environment. There are currently over 800 registered Clean Coasts groups. There are a variety of group types such as community groups, residents’ associations, tidy towns groups, sports clubs, schools, businesses, universities etc. Clean Coasts organises hundreds of beach clean-ups annually mobilising thousands of volunteers, removing considerable quantities of marine litter from Ireland’s beaches and waterway. http://www.cleancoasts.org/