A NEW SURVEY has revealed that the majority of the country’s beaches are falling short of a clean bill of health, despite the unsettled summer meaning lower visitor numbers.
However, the annual survey of 33 coasts and inland waterways by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) still showed that the most littered areas have cleaned up over the past year – with no ‘blackspots’ recorded for the first time.
It also found a “rapid emergence” in disposable vapes across beaches.
While there was a 50% rise in clean sites overall, the survey again found our coastal areas to be more littered than our towns, which IBAL researches as part of its Anti-Litter League programme.
Beaches, harbours, rivers and their immediate environs were monitored by An Taisce in June and July.
Popular beaches at Portmarnock in Dublin and Lahinch in Co Clare deteriorated to ‘littered’ status, as did Dog’s Bay in Galway.
Elsewhere, Bundoran in Donegal, Ballybunion in Kerry, Fingal’s Skerries and Strandhill in Sligo were deemed ‘moderately littered’.
Clean beaches included Tramore in Co Waterford, Dublin’s Killiney and Galway’s Salthill.
Brittas Bay in Co Wicklow and Curracloe in Co Wexford both improved on last year.
Grand Canal Dock in Dublin among the areas improving from ‘heavily littered’ to being judged as ‘moderately littered’.
“Over an unsettled summer, where our beaches attracted far fewer numbers than normal, one might have expected the majority to be virtually free of litter,” Conor Horgan of IBAL said.
“Unfortunately, this does not reflect the state of our coastal environment. There is much ‘long lie’ litter and waste coming in from the sea, and this is compounded by litter from those who continue to frequent our coastline despite the inclement weather.”
For the first time since IBAL commenced its coastal surveys in 2017, no area was deemed a litter blackspot.
Blackrock Castle (Cork Harbour), a blackspot in previous IBAL surveys, improved to littered, as did White Bay in Cork and the Tolka River at Annesley Bridge in Dublin.
“Volunteers such as the Blackrock Clean up Group and Clean Coasts Ballynamona at White Bay have seen their trojan work in recent years bear fruit in this study. There appears to be stronger collaboration between these groups and the relevant local authority in targeting these areas,” Horgan said.
The disappearance of litter blackspots around our coasts mirrors a trend evident also in IBAL’s survey of towns and cities, the group said.
“An obvious starting point in cleaning up our country is to target the most littered areas. This is clearly happening,” Horgan said.
Disposable vapes were revealed as an emerging form of litter, encountered in 1 in 7 of all visits, making them significantly more common on our beaches than on our streets.
“This time last year we were not seeing this form of litter at all, so its rapid emergence is worrying. So, too, is its impact on our environment,” warned Horgan.
IBAL favours the banning of disposable vapes, which, it contends, run counter to the notion of a circular economy, stating that vapes contain electronics, chemical waste and single-use plastic which breaks down into microparticles, endangering sea life.
“Coastal litter is unsightly and unhygienic, and deters visitors to our shores. Less evident, but more disturbing, is its impact on our sea life, which in turn threatens the very sustainability of our planet,” Horgan said.
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