OUTSIDERS: Bring your rubbish home, and stop littering Cork’s beaches especially Myrtleville

19 June 2017
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie

The Green Party bill, which was launched last week, would bring back the deposit-return system for plastic and glass bottles. Single-use non-recyclable plastics, such as coffee cups and plastic cutlery, would be phased out by 2020.

Speaking this afternoon after photos emerged, Oliver Moran, the party’s representative in Cork North Central, said:

“It’s clear from the photos that most people made an effort to put their rubbish in the bins. The problem is that once the bins start overflowing things get out of hand and a trail of litter stretches out from them. That problem could be gotten ahead of during busy periods with more frequent picks up or temporary bins put out to accommodate more people.”

“But there’s no point in lecturing people because the root cause of the problem is that we have an economy that produces so much litter. Ultimately, if we want to address litter we have to cut down on wasteful packaging and a throw-away economy.”

These comments were echoed by the party’s representative in Cork South Central, Lorna Bogue, who said:

“This is very unfortunate to see, especially when you consider initiatives like the Green Schools program that are doing a great job of educating children on the impacts of littering. I think over time this will tackle the cultural acceptance of littering.”

“More facilities at busy times would certainly help, but I don’t think that’s the only thing that needs to change. We have a major littering problem in this country which isn’t seen in other countries. The issue at the end of the day is the overproduction of waste.”