Keeping our coastline clean

Keeping our coastline clean

5 June 2019

MOURNE Heritage Trust are teaming up with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful to host a guided hike and clean event for volunteers who want to be part of this year’s Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week. 

The unique litter pick event begins on Newcastle beach tomorrow between 7pm and 8.30pm and volunteers who are passionate about keeping our coasts litter free can meet other like minded enthusiasts. 

Across Ireland last year almost 4,000 volunteers registered for 207 clean up events collecting an incredible 23 tons of waste between them. 

To launch this year’s clean up, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is calling on volunteers to ‘Do Good, Feel Good’ and help create a large scale piece of sand art on their local stretch of beach.  

The piece itself was designed by renowned sand artist Sean Corcoran who used the wave from the Clean Coasts logo as inspiration.  

The community then filled the wave with hearts and bubbles as well as completing a beach clean to ensure everyone could enjoy the artwork litter-free. 

Jodie McAneaney, Live Here Love Here manager at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful said:  “Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week is growing from strength to strength and we’re excited to see how many volunteers will support us this year.  

“Our aim is to create a clean coasts community who will continue to look after and enjoy our shores throughout the year and encourage others to do the same.  Northern Ireland has some of the most beautiful shores in the world and we should be proud to protect and preserve them as well as taking advantage of the wonderful sports and hobbies organised around them.”  

Gillian Shields, packaging and sustainability manager, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland, said: “At Coca-Cola HBC, sustainability lies at the heart of our business. We continually strive to minimise our impact on the environment, with ambitious targets to reduce water, energy, waste and packaging. 

“We also believe in a world without waste, and our 11 year-long partnership with the Clean Coasts programme in Northern Ireland plays an important role in that ambition. 

“With the support of our partners Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, we are keen to do even more in 2019 to champion responsible behaviour with respect to littering and encourage greater recycling.”