This summer lots of us are re-discovering the beautiful countryside and coastline of this wonderful Island we call home and realising how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful and welcoming country.
Sadly though there is still a minority of people who think it is acceptable to leave litter behind them. It is so annoying, how can these idiots not understand the damage they are doing?
Which part of “BRING YOUR RUBBISH HOME WITH YOU” do they not understand?
The visual aspect of litter is bad enough – who wants to spend their leisure time surrounded by rubbish?
There are of course different types of rubbish and they are all unsightly. But broken glass is in a league of its own.
I imagine my beautiful granddaughter Juno, who I’ll be meeting soon for the first time in well over a year, running barefoot on the beach and I shudder at the thought of what a shard off a broken bottle could do to those tiny little feet.
It’s a simple enough equation: soft sand + bare feet + broken glass = injury + pain + blood + tears. It’s not conducive to having a good time which is what a day on the beach is all about.
This weekend Clean Coasts, which is part of the Environmental Education Unit of the national environmental group An Taisce, is asking people around Ireland to help raise awareness about the danger of broken glass on the beach.
They point out that by taking our glass bottles home with us and recycling or reusing them, we not only protect our coastline from litter but remove a potentially severe injury risk ensuring future visitors can enjoy the coast as much as we did.
To encourage people to help them spread the word, Clean Coasts have joined forces with ECOSET and Sea Change for a social media competition starting today, Thursday, 5th August, until Sunday, 8th August.
“We are offering one lucky follower a reusable wine bottle and tumbler gift set from ECOSET and Sea Change’s Signature Pack of wines.
Check out Clean Coasts Instagram (@cleancoasts or www.instagram.com/cleancoasts) for more details.
Really though, we shouldn’t need competitions to make us think about litter and its consequences and potential hazards. The important word in that sentence is THINK.
