27 tonnes of marine litter were removed from beaches and coastlines during Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week 2019, which ran from 1st – 9th June – launched by a large-scale beach art project created by local volunteers.
Communities joined together to host beach clean-ups and celebrate the coastline with fun water-based activities. Over the course of the week, in Northern Ireland alone, 1859 volunteers collected 931 litter bags across 65 events – that’s more than double the number of volunteers from the previous year. Across the Island of Ireland that totaled 27 tonnes of marine litter removed – 9 tonnes more than last year.
Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week aimed to engage and empower people and communities to protect our precious coastal resources and appreciate everything our coastline has to offer. Events included free beach yoga classes, underwater litter picks, seaweed workshops, hiking and canoeing clean ups and plogging (the Scandinavian trend of picking up litter while jogging), to name a few.
Jodie McAneaney, Live Here Love Here Manager at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful comments: “With almost 200 events across the Island of Ireland, Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week 2019 has been one of our most successful yet. Here in Northern Ireland we have doubled the number of people taking part since last year which is an incredible achievement – thanks must go to these dedicated volunteers who have worked so hard. Our aim is to inspire a clean coasts community which will continue to protect, preserve and enjoy our beaches, rivers, lakes and loughs for years to come.”
Speaking about their involvement, Gillian Shields, Packaging and Sustainability Manager, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland said, “Coca-Cola has been proudly supporting the Clean Coasts programme for the past 11 years. Through our involvement in the Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week this year, we are delighted to have helped support the thousands of volunteers across the island of Ireland who are caring for our beaches whilst championing responsible behaviour when it comes to littering.”
