10 February 2020 | Clean Coasts’ Valentine’s Day initiative #BreakUpWithPlastic is back again. This February 14th, Clean Coasts is challenging people from all over Ireland to end their toxic relationship with single use plastic and find a more suitable match – how about a bamboo toothbrush or a reusable straw?

With the #BreakUpWithPlastic 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.

Recent statistics show that Ireland is the number one plastic waste producer in the European Union and over a third of all produced plastic, such us straws, shopping bags or bottles, is used only once and then discarded. Approximately 9 million tons of plastic waste enter our ocean each year. Plastic generally takes between 450 and 1,000 years to decompose and plastic waste is suffocating our ocean.

The good news is – there is a solution to this crisis!

This Valentine’s day join Clean Coasts in ditching single use plastic and switch to a bamboo toothbrush, a reusable cup/water bottle, or a reusable straw.

On this occasion, Clean Coasts will release new downloadable materials containing tips on how to avoid single use plastic.

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.

Visit www.cleancoasts.org to find out more.

To find out about our #BreakUpWithPlastic initiative and download our free resources, visit https://cleancoasts.org/our-initiatives/break-up-with-plastic/

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About Clean Coasts

Clean Coasts engages communities in the protection of Ireland’s beaches, seas and marine life. The programme is operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce and is currently funded by the Department of the Housing, Planning and Local Government, and Fáilte Ireland. The Clean Coasts volunteering effort engages communities in the protection and conservation of their local coastal environment. There are currently over 900 registered Clean Coasts groups in Ireland and last year over 24,000 volunteers engaged with the programme. 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 waterways.

A few more tips to help out our ocean

Please remember personal action is very important. Everyday choices matter to the future of our ocean. Here’s our Clean Coasts top tips for helping out the ocean that we all can do:

  • Avoid cosmetics that contain micro-plastic beads. For more information see here
  • There are many green alternatives on the market today: try beeswax food wrap instead of plastic wrap, or washable instead of disposable snack baggies. For more info on how to break up with plastic, download our brochure here.
  • If you can’t reduce or reuse, recycle; know where and how to recycle all types of waste.
  • Never litter!
  • Even cigarette butts contain plastic (cellulose acetate in their filter) that never biodegrades
  • Remember to ‘‘Think Before You Flush”, sanitary waste is very harmful for marine life, put a bin in your bathroom and only flush the 3 P’s, (Paper, Pee, Poo)
  • If a bin is overflowing, hold onto your rubbish until you can dispose of it properly
  • When visiting the beach or park, do a quick #2minutebeachclean or #2minutestreetclean: spend two minutes before you leave the beach picking up a bit of rubbish to leave.