Irish Examiner view: What a mess

The casual way we discard litter and used items is a blight our cities, towns and coasts, and its harm on nature, creatures, and business cannot be underestimated. Picture: Alamy

Plastic bottles, wet wipes, cotton buds, and thousands of cigarette butts were, unsurprisingly, among more than 25 tonnes of rubbish removed from Ireland's beaches, parks, and beauty spots last week.

The Clean Coasts programme sees thousands of volunteers take to our cherished public places charged with the unenviable task of painstakingly picking up rubbish discarded by idiots.

The casual way we discard litter and used items is a blight our cities, towns and coasts, and its harm on nature, creatures, and business cannot be underestimated.

The issue is getting out of hand in some parts of Ireland. A Business Post article on Sunday was partially headlined “dirty old Dublin’s getting filthy and gritty”.

In Cork, the president of the Cork Business Association has offered to fly to England to collect spare parts after the city’s entire fleet of (three) street cleaning machines broke down.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

The point here though is that we shouldn’t be relying on machines and volunteers to pick up our mess. Our public places are ours to savour, not litter.

Clean Coasts is an excellent initiative and its volunteers should be thanked for their work. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was no need for them at all?