Cork celebrates its best litter league report in years

Cork’s coasts and inland waterways have received their best report in eight years from Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL), but littering was recorded at Bantry, Ballinacurra, Kinsale, and White Bay. 

The annual IBAL survey shows the majority of areas attaining clean status, among them Castletownbere harbour and Cork Harbour at Blackrock Castle, which was hailed as “much improved”.

Bantry, Ballinacurra, and Kinsale were deemed moderately littered, while White Bay beach was listed as littered.

Nationally, 33 beaches, harbours, rivers and their immediate environs were monitored by An Taisce on behalf of IBAL in June and July.

Of those, 17 were deemed clean, while the areas branded littered fell from 11 last year to just three.

With none of the 33 coasts and inland waterways monitored in the survey placed in the lowest, “heavily littered”, category, Conor Horgan of IBAL hailed the result.

“This is by far the most favourable result we have seen in eight years of coastal surveys,” he said.

“The trojan and ever-expanding work of Clean Coasts groups and other volunteers is instrumental in this, as is the investment by councils in facilities around our beaches.”

Mr Horgan said legislative measures such as the tethering of caps to plastic bottles and the deposit return scheme were contributing factors.

“It appears also that local authorities have upped their game in responding to busy periods at our beaches,” he said.

The most commonly-found items of litter included cigarette butts, sweet papers, and fast food wrappers.

The report had praise for Castletownbere and for Cork Harbour at Blackrock Castle. 

It said of Castletownbere:

 “The town was adorned with an abundance of colourful planting throughout, and the area looked not just good with regards to litter, but well cared for”.

The area surrounding Blackrock Castle was described as “very freshly presented and maintained”.

However, Ballinacurra, Bantry, and Kinsale were found to be moderately littered, while the pedestrian approach to the White Bay car park was found to be “not just casually littered, but subject to dumping”.