Media Contact: Sinead McCoy
Email:cleancoasts@eeu.antaisce.org
Phone: 014002002
Portrane & Donabate
Clean Coasts Group
Approximately 10 million tonnes of litter end up in the world’s oceans and seas each year. (European Commission, 2013).
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, Community & Local Government and Fáilte Ireland. Clean Coasts is made up of two main elements; Clean Coasts Volunteering and the Green Coast Award.
Early in 2017, Clean Coasts were contacted by Olive, a regular beach user who grew up next to Donabate’s Balcarrick Beach. Olive (like many of us) had seen the evidence of marine litter along Ireland’s coastline and took the opportunity to do something about it.
After getting in touch with An Taisice’s Clean Coasts Programme’s Dublin Regional Officer and registering as a Clean Coasts Group, the group’s first beach cleanup was planned for the 4th March with the aim to create a tangible and immediate improvement on areas coastal environment.
Almost 30 volunteers attended the beach cleanup ranging in back ground and age, many had seen details of the cleanup on social media whilst other had read the posters on the Fingal County Council beach information boards. Over 60 bags of marine litter ranging from fishing ropes to socks and shoes were removed, the bulk of which were plastic single use items! Fingal County Council collected the bagged litter immediately after the beach clean, and the Waterside House Hotel provided all volunteers with a well earned and much needed tea and coffee.
The Portrane & Donabate Clean Coasts Group will be hosting their next beach clean on The Brook Portrane Beach this Saturday 1st April, from 11am to 1pm, all volunteers are welcome to us for as long as they can. All beach cleaning equipment will be provided on the day.
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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 Housing, Planning, Community & Local Government and Fáilte Ireland.
Clean Coasts is made up of two elements; Clean Coasts volunteering and the Green Coast Award. The Green Coast Award is an award for beaches that meet the excellent standard for water quality as set out in the revised Bathing Water Directive (EC 2006/7/EC). An important element of this award is that these beaches have a beach management plan in place and that the local community are engaged in this process.
The Clean Coasts volunteering effort engages communities in the protection and conservation of their local coastal environment. There are currently 560 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 waterways.