Clean Coast calls on Cork to #BreakUpWithPlastic this Valentine's

While Valentine’s Day generally carries connotations of love and appreciation, Clean Coasts are calling on Cork to #BreakUpWithPlastic.

The national organisation has teamed up with the public awareness campaign Think Before You Flush to hold an Instagram live session on Monday, February 14 at 12.30pm to discuss the impact of plastic on the marine environment, how to reduce plastic within our communities and actions that can be taken to protect our ocean from home.

The partnership will be sharing on social media and their website some downloadable resources, easy daily swaps, blog posts and more.

While most will be rejoicing the relationships in their lives this February, the national organisation is asking people to reflect on our relationship to things that may not be benefitting us or our environment, such as single-use plastic.

Clean Coasts is calling for people all over Ireland to end their relationship with single-use plastic items they thought they couldn’t live without by finding new, more sustainable items to love.

Cork-based Clean Coasts volunteer Dave Ludgate AKA Subowti spends a lot of his time stand up paddleboarding (SUP) the River Lee and picking up the varied objects that get dumped there.

He is one of the biggest supporters of the #2minutebeachclean campaign in Ireland. Most of the objects picked up are plastic items, such as bottles, food wrappers, food containers and more, including some retro rubbish items and Dave uses social media to raise awareness about the amount of plastic that can be collected along our coast.

These plastic items can harm marine life, as they can get entangled in plastic items or ingest them.

The #BreakUpWithPlastic initiative aims to raise awareness of the impact of plastic pollution on our planet and marine environment by asking people to stop opting for single-use plastic.

Speaking about the campaign, Sinead McCoy, Clean Coasts said: “We once again are asking people to stop and think how they are using plastic and to educate themselves about plastic and its impact. If we continue with the use of plastic as a single-use item, we will continue to create immense waste issues and high demands on our natural environment. We need now more than ever before to discover ways to move away from the overly convenient individually packaged lifestyle we have adopted and find a way to break up with single-use plastic."

Sinead continued to say, "We realise it can be difficult to make the break from single-use, so for anybody starting the journey towards new, reusable, long-lasting loves, we have tips and hints on our website to get you started."

Join the campaign on social media @CleanCoasts and online.