Litter blitz at Cork blackspot unearths drug needles and 30-year-old drinks cans

Transition-year students from two Cork schools hoping their actions will 'rattle cages'

Transition-year students from two Cork schools clearing litter from the shore around Cork’s landmark Blackrock Castle on Tuesday morning. Registrations are now open for National Spring Clean 2022. Photo: Cathal Noonan

Students hope their big spring clean of a notorious litter blackspot around Cork’s landmark Blackrock Castle, which yielded drug needles and 30-year-old drinks cans, will “rattle cages” and encourage the authorities to act.

Transition-year students from two Cork schools used a special compressor-driven vacuum cleaner to suck up microplastics along a stretch of foreshore on the city side of the castle at low tide on Tuesday.