Two hundred volunteers are expected to turn out this weekend to help tackle marine litter in County Meath as part of Clean Coasts’ Big Beach Clean 2021.
In doing so they will be joining thousands of other concerned citizens around the world who have answered the call to action by the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC), operated internationally by Ocean Conservancy.
The initiative is also an opportunity for the volunteers to get involved in a worldwide citizen science project, which will entail collecting and recording the amount and types of litter they collect and filling in Clean Coasts’ Marine Litter Data Cards that will help heighten awareness about the issue of marine litter serving as an indicator of the magnitude of the problem.
Local Beach Cleans include:
Bettystown
The Big Beach Clean in Bettystown takes place tomorrow, Saturday September 18, between 9 – 11am. meeting in the village at the entrance to the beach.
Local organiser Kirsty MacKenzie of Bettystown Tidy Towns told Drogheda Life that she is hoping for a good turnout from our own Tidy Towns volunteers and others in the village.
“We’ll be weighing bags collected and returning the results to Clean Coasts” Kirsty said adding that she’d also be “on the lookout for weird and wonderful washed up finds!”
You never know what you’d find Kirsty, the Tara Brooch was discovered in Bettystown back in 1850!
Laytown
The clean-up of the back beach between Laytown and Ben Head is also taking place on Saturday 18th September starting at 10.30 am. Organiser Philomena Mulligan has advertised this on Facebook and put a poster up in Pats supermarket in Laytown and is hoping for a big turn-out.
Gormanston
Gormanston Community Association are also taking part in the #BigBeachClean and are looking for volunteers to join and help them make a difference together.
Chairperson Peter Brady said: “The meeting point is the front car park of Gormanston Train Station on Saturday 18th September at 10am. Cleaning kits will be provided for anyone not having their own.
Clean Coasts is once again being supported by Cully & Sully, who will provide registered volunteers with Big Beach Clean kits. They will also be giving away 10 of their exclusive swim robes to clean up participants.
To be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is share a photo or video of your Big Beach Clean on social media, use the hashtag #BigBeachClean21 and tag @CleanCoasts and @CullyandSully in the post.
Clean Coasts would like to thank the over 6,500 volunteers nationwide who signed up for this call to action nationwide for their commitment and effort.
For more information visit www.cleancoasts/org.
