13 June 2024
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
To mark World Ocean Day, employees at EirGrid, the developer and operator of the national electricity grid, collected more than 66kg of litter at a Cork beach as part of a coastal clean-up initiative.
A group of eight volunteers from EirGrid, assisted by members of the Youghal Blue and Green Community Network, took part in An Taisce’s Clean Coasts Programme, rolling up their sleeves to collect rubbish on Claycastle Beach in Youghal.
The Youghal clean up coincided with an identical EirGrid beach clean event at Poolbeg in Dublin.
Among the items found during the clean-up were cigarette butts, baby wipes, glass, and plastic bottles. Other unusual items such as clothing, children’s toys and a rusty old steel drum were also found.
Clean-ups like these play an instrumental role in preventing litter from being washed towards the sea, safeguarding the health of our marine life.
‘Beach Cleans are a great way to show that people can make a real difference to their environment, reduce the damage of local pollution and help to create a cleaner environment,’ Ronan Lynch, EirGrid’s Fisheries Liaison Officer, and organiser of the clean-up, said.
‘At EirGrid, sustainability and responsible business practices are being embedded across our day-to-day operations, and we were delighted to make a small contribution to protecting our coastlines and create a cleaner environment in Cork.’
Clean Coasts’ Big Beach Clean encourages communities and volunteers around the country to remove litter from Irish coastal areas.
“All rubbish collected is weighed and sorted as part of marine litter surveys to quantify the amount and types of litter on Irish beaches. These surveys are aimed at heightening awareness about the issue of marine litter and serve as an indicator of the magnitude of the problem,” Lynch added.
“EirGrid will be logging the data from this beach clean through Clean Coasts Ireland and we look forward to being a more regular contributor to this important initiative.”
Last year, over 400 registered clean ups took place across Ireland, removing over 46 tonnes of marine litter.
Drone photo of volunteers at beach clean up