This weekend Clean Coasts is asking people around Ireland to help raise awareness about the danger of broken glass on the beach and related injuries.
At the start of the summer, Clean Coasts launched their Enjoy And Protect campaign, asking people to enjoy and celebrate our stunning coastline, beautiful beaches, epic cliffs and all outdoor areas, but also to protect these natural treasures by taking simple actions, such as giving up single-use plastic items, choosing more sustainable forms of transportation to the coast, or doing a #2minutebeachclean.
This time Clean Coasts is focusing on broken glass on our beaches and glass marine litter items. Broken glass on our beaches is a serious problem on our coasts, with 60% of Clean Coasts followers having seen this type of litter on their local beaches. As a matter of fact, several Clean Coasts volunteers and beachgoers have reported injuries from stepping on pieces of glass.
However, injuries are not the only issue. Marine litter such as broken glass or discarded glass bottles can be a real deterrent for beachgoers. Indeed, almost 90% of Clean Coasts social media followers who took part in our survey said that the presence of glass would put them off returning to that beach in the future.
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 us spread the word about this issue, we have joined forces with ECOSET and Sea Change for a social media competition that will take place from 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.
