This summer, keep your butt off Irish beaches! 

Irish environmental charity Clean Coasts warns people about the impact of smoking related litter on marine environment and wildlife, and are asking smokers to dispose of their butts correctly.  

30th May 2023 | May 31st is World No Tobacco Day, a day in which the World Health Organisation highlight the harmful impact tobacco has on human health and our environment. Tobacco growing, manufacturing and use poison our water, soil, beaches and city streets with chemicals, toxic waste, cigarette butts, including microplastics, and e-cigarette waste. 

On June 1st, Ireland’s bathing season starts, and Clean Coasts are launching a campaign asking people to dispose of their smoking related litter correctly to protect our environment and marine life. 

Ireland has amazing beaches and coastal landscapes, including 94 Blue Flag and 65 Green Coast Award sites, and everybody can play a key role in protecting them. [see more in the editor’s notes] 

The issue 

In Ireland, cigarette butts are the most common item found on Ireland’s beaches and they account to for almost 50% of all discarded waste in the country. For the past several years, cigarette butts have been the top litter item found on Irish beaches during the Big Beach Clean, our end of bathing season call to action sponsored by Irish business Cully and Sully.  

Cigarette butts and filters are often assumed to be biodegradable, but in fact, one cigarette butt might take over a decade to decompose. Cigarette filters are made of a plastic called cellulose acetate, which does not biodegrade and can remain in the environment for very long periods of time in the form of microplastics. Globally littered cigarette butts amount to an estimated 0.3 million tons of microfibers released per year. 

When ingested, the hazardous chemicals in microplastics cause long-term mortality in marine life, including birds, fish, mammals, plants and reptiles.   

According to research, just one cigarette butt per litre of water leaches enough toxins to kill half the freshwater or saltwater fish exposed to it.  

In addition to cigarette butts, volunteers hosting clean-ups have noticed that incorrectly discarded vapes are also increasing. Vapes are made of materials such as plastic, rubber and metal that don’t break down naturally, and 1.3 million single-use vapes are thrown away every week. 

The solution 

Clean Coasts are highlighting the work of community groups to tackle smoking litter on their local beach, and hope to inspire other groups and communities to take action in their local community. Two such groups that worked to create awareness locally about smoking related litter are  Bettystown Tidy Towns in Co. Meath, and Keep Our Beaches Clean in Louisburgh, Co. Mayo. These community groups took the time to raise awareness within their communities about the impact smoking related litter and why it should be disposed of correctly, with pilot projects that entailed the installation of cigarette bins and informational stickers in key spots in their local area.   

Louise Hastings, from Keep Our Beaches Clean, commented: “We were having a big issue with butts being thrown in a few areas in particular, the pier, the carpark, the toilets and some hot spots on the beach. The volunteers were spending so much time picking up the butts, it’s so tedious. We decided to apply for a grant in the hope of purchasing the bins. We are hoping this solves the issue and the volunteers won’t have to spend so much time breaking their backs picking them up.” 

Kirsty MacKenzie, a member of Bettystown Tidy Towns commented: “Bettystown Tidy Towns made the decision to use the Clean Coasts grant to purchase cigarette butt bins after feedback from our volunteers. We regularly litter pick around the village and cigarette butts are one of the most commonly reported litter item that we find. There are several streams running through Bettystown and we are very conscious of trying to stop litter of all kinds from reaching the sea.  

We decided to install cigarette butt bins at specific points around the village where our volunteers have reported significant issues with cigarette litter. We are pleased to say that we have seen a reduction in cigarette litter in the village since the installation of the bins and we will continue to promote their use.” 

Clean Coasts released  resources for people to learn more about the issue and create their own campaign. Moreover, they are inviting Clean Coasts groups and communities living in an area affected by the issue to get in touch if they would like to host a similar initiative on their local beach, by visiting their website at www.cleancoasts.org.  

ENDS 

About Clean Coasts:      

In 2023, Clean Coasts is celebrating its 20th birthday. Clean Coasts is a charity programme, run through the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, which engages communities in the protection of Ireland’s beaches, seas and marine life.   

Since 2003, Clean Coasts has been working with communities to help protect and care for Ireland’s waterways, coastline, seas, ocean and marine life. Clean Coasts thrives to create tangible and immediate improvements to Ireland’s coastal environment, involving thousands of volunteers removing large quantities of marine litter from our coastline each year.   

For the past 20 years, Clean Coasts has grown from strength to strength and now includes two main national clean-up drives, as well as other initiatives, including the Green Coast Award, the Love Your Coast Photography competition, the Clean Coasts Roadshows for coastal communities and the Ocean Hero Awards. All these initiatives are aimed at celebrating the beauty of our coast and the efforts of our volunteers across all of Ireland.     

Currently, there are over 2,000 registered Clean Coasts volunteering 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. Our volunteering has expanded to also include Corporate Volunteering.   

Blue Flag and Green Coast Awards: 

An Taisce announced the recipients of the International Blue Flag and the National Green Coast Awards for 2023. A total of 159 awards were presented by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Mr. Darragh O’Brien. 

In the 36th edition of the award in Ireland, 84 beaches and 10 marinas were awarded the prestigious Blue Flag this year. The Green Coast Award has achieved a noteworthy milestone by granting 65 awards for the 2023 bathing season. This is an increase of 3 awards compared to last year, and the highest number of awards given since its establishment. These achievements coincide with the celebration of Clean Coasts’ 20-year anniversary. 

The Green Coast Awards were first presented back in 2003 to four beaches in County Wexford, it was rolled out nationally in 2008 and has gone from strength to strength ever since. An important aspect of the Green Coast Awards is the involvement of Clean Coasts groups, of which they are currently over 2,000. Volunteers participate in community clean-ups and, in cooperation with Local Authorities, help manage their local beaches throughout the year.