Broken glass proving the scourge of Cork's beaches

National Clean Coasts awareness initiative this weekend seeks to highlight the injury dangers 

Broken bottles and glass are a menace on beaches in East Cork, according to Clean Coasts Ballynamona.

Broken glass on some of Cork’s beaches is a scourge of “wanton destruction that is so needless”, a leading environmental and biodiversity campaigner has said.

Proinsias Ó Tuama on Clean Coasts Ballynamona said the group is continually finding shards of glass from beer bottles and the like along much-loved beaches in Ballynamona, Ardnahinch, Youghal, Corkbeg, and White Bay.

He was speaking ahead of the national Clean Coasts awareness initiative this weekend that is seeking to highlight the dangers of broken glass on the beach and the injuries that result.

Clean Coasts said 60% of its social media followers have reported seeing broken glass on their local beaches with many volunteers saying they have been injured by the litter.

Almost 90% of the followers who took part in the organisation’s survey said the presence of glass would put them off returning to that beach in the future.

Mr Ó Tuama, who founded the Ballynamona branch of Clean Coasts in 2015 and now cleans up to 1.5% of the Irish coastline with around 300 volunteers, said it is disheartening to see glass every time they clean a beach around East Cork.

“There is no other explanation for it other than mindless, wanton destruction. What is really infuriating is that it is so needless. If a case of beer is heavy to carry to a beach, then by the laws of gravity, it is lighter to take away with you after the beer has been consumed.

“Yet anti-social behaviour means that glass bottles are flung in the early hours of the morning, usually accompanied by damaging fires and trampling of local habitats, all just for the sake of it.” 

White Bay and Corkbeg beaches have been particularly noticeable of late, Mr Ó Tuama said.

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Last month’s beach survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) shows the majority of beaches and harbours falling short of clean status.

While 40% of the 32 coastal areas surveyed were deemed ‘Clean to European norms’, there was a rise in areas branded ‘littered’. Cork Harbour at Blackrock Castle and White Bay in Cork were both ‘heavily littered’ and among the worst areas surveyed, IBAL said.

Clean Coasts Ballynamona has completed a number of rounds of litter pickups at White Bay, which is near Trabolgan, finding plastic with labels going back 30 years, as well as broken glass and toilet-related waste.

A single cleanup in June picked up 18 bags of larger waste, including bags weighing around 20kgs, but there was still much more to come back to later, Mr Ó Tuama said.

“I’d just like to ask those who are doing it to stop and think for a second. A single broken beer bottle has the potential to cause serious injury to many people. Is it really worth it? Instead, think of how easy it is to pack them up and take them away. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

To encourage people to help us spread the word about broken glass, Clean Coasts is running a social media competition until Sunday, offering a reusable wine bottle and tumbler gift set from ECOSET and Sea Change’s Signature Pack of wines. See Clean Coasts Instagram (@cleancoasts or www.instagram.com/cleancoasts) for more details.