THE Big Beach Clean 2025 netted 9.2 tonnes of rubbish in Cork county alone, writes Jackie Keogh.
The work done in the county was carried out by more than 1,500 volunteers, but nationally the event attracted more than 11,000 volunteers, all working with the same objective in mind.
These volunteers enthusiastically took part in the annual Big Beach Clean weekend, which ran from September 19th to 21st.
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Elaine Doyle, who is the Clean Coast development officer for the South Coast, confirmed that 520 registered clean-ups took place over the weekend.
She explained that Clean Coasts, which is part of An Taisce’s environmental education unit, has a year-round programme working with communities to help protect and care for Ireland’s waterways, coastline, seas, ocean and marine life.
But the September clean-up is a really important annual event, not just in terms of cleaning our beaches, but also in identifying the type of litter and rubbish that is washing up on our shores.
Reports suggest that approximately 80% of marine litter comes from land-based activities; and that the litter dropped in our towns and cities ends up in our oceans.
Nationally, Elaine confirmed that 60 tonnes of rubbish – which is the equivalent weight of six elephants – was collected and properly disposed of.
Elaine said the event, which is generously sponsored by Kia Ireland, is part of the Ocean Conservancy Citizen Science Survey, which is a global event that is always carried out on the third weekend of September every year.
The Big Beach Clean is attracting more and more volunteers every year.
Register to get involved in the year-long programme or September event at cleancoast.ie.
