The team from Coca-Cola undertook their annual Spring Clean last Thursday as part of the An Taisce National Spring Clean programme.
This year they decided to the stretch along the Boyne from Beaulieu Bridge to Queensborough where a lot of waste accumulates having been washed down the river.
Having donned their wellies and hi viz jackets, armed themselves with litter pickers and gloves, the team were quickly down into the verges of the salt marsh and mudflat, an area where the river widens and loses a lot of it’s energy, therefore depositing the waste that has been washed down along the course of the Boyne.
This accumulates in the verges of the Special Protected Area / Special Area for Conservation that is the Boyne Estuary which is a significant area for native and over-wintering birds.
The winter visitors left recently, so the timing of the clean-up caused minimal disturbance to the native residents. The timing was scheduled at low tide to allow safe access to this area.
Thirteen volunteers from Coca-Cola took part, including two past colleagues, Jacinta Farrelly and Margaret Woods, and two young bucks who were on mid-term, and were cajoled into joining in by Jen Brennan. Her son Cormac and his best pal Tadgh were great assistance on the day and helped identify the location along the estuary where footballs go to die.
“We found six footballs in total, as well as many IWA plastic ducks, tennis balls, bottles, cans, fishing crates, traffic cones, fleadh parking signs, gas cylinders, armchairs, paint tubs, items of clothing, face masks, a Drogheda United scarf, items of household waste and other junk that had no business in the river” said team leader Áine Walsh.
“One of the saddest things is that about 95% of the waste found is recyclable, so could be dropped in green bins or recycling centres” Aine commented.
Stalwarts of these annual clean ups, Margaret Martin, Therese Quinn, Pauline Byrne, Maria Gervas Rios, Kathryn Meade, Jen Brennan, Julie Plunkett and Áine Walsh were joined by new team member, Jeff Talbot, who has been working with Coca-Cola for nearly two years, but many haven’t met in real life on account of Covid lockdowns, so it was a great opportunity to meet up and have a chat and a laugh while cleaning up.
The team at Louth County Council (Stephen Lynch and Pat Savage) kindly arranged to pick up the bags at the designated locations on Friday morning.
Local residents do regular clean ups in the area, and Drogheda Tidy Towns are planning a further blitz on the estuary from Queensborough towards Baltray on Sunday 24th.
If you are interested in getting involved in the Tidy Towns clean up, the meeting point is at Queensborough at 10:30am on Sunday 24th April.
With the collaboration of local business, local residents and local community organisations the north side of the Boyne Estuary will be cleared of the waste that humans unkindly leave there and returned to nature, at least temporarily.
