IBAL report deems Avoca River ‘littered’
THE Avoca River in Arklow is littered while Brittas Bay and the River Dargle in Bray are moderately littered, according to new data released by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).
The survey, carried out by An Taisce, found that 40 per cent of the country’s beaches, rivers and harbours are littered, while only four of 50 areas surveyed were deemed ‘Clean to European Norms’.
According to the An Taisce report for the Avoca River in Arklow, the parking area around the harbour was a problem area.
‘ The beach and dunes were in good order with regard to litter. The pier and parking area were somewhat littered, mostly food wrappers. There were heavy levels of marine related items at South Quay, e.g. rope/lobster pots on quay and tyres. The harbour slipway had lots of accumulation of long-lie litter – rope, food wrappers, plastic bottles, cans etc,’ the report stated.
At Brittas Bay, food and sweet wrappers were detected during the inspection.
‘ The car park and entrances to both North and South Beaches were moderately littered – mainly food and sweet wrappers/wipes. The middle stretch of beach was very good with regard to litter. There was very little marine based litter – some pieces of wood in the water,’ the report stated.
The report for the River Dargle at Bray highlighted a contrast between some very well-kept areas and others which were badly littered.
‘Extensive area with some areas in very good order and others less so. The new river walk area was clear from litter and well maintained. This was in contrast to the industrial area where alcohol cans and domestic rubbish had been discarded. Main Street had small amounts of scattered receipts, food wrappers on road verge. Seapoint Road had mainly cigarette butts, food wrappers on road verge. Harbour area – land was clear from rubbish. The harbour area – water had micro plastic washed up in harbour,’ the report said.
According to Conor Horgan of IBAL, the most common forms of litter found by the assessors were cigarette butts, sweet wrappers, plastic bottles and cans.
‘We are a small island and often subject to wet and windy weather. When someone casually drops a plastic bottle or cigarette butt on the street, the likelihood of it being blown into a local river or swept into a drain to then enter the sea is very high,’ he said.
‘ This litter isn’t just unsightly, it is contributing to lasting, potentially irreparable damage to our planet. This is the new face of litter. Worldwide, billions of kilos of disgarded plastic can be found in swirling convergences in the oceans, making up about 40 percent of the world’s ocean surfaces. For every foot of coastline in the world, the equivalent of five grocery bags filled with plastic ends up in our oceans each year. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.’