Hoax ‘litter-for-money’ scheme highlights a problem which is far from bogus

IN early March, a so-called Coastal Clean-Up Project invited people, via posters, in Bantry, Glengarriff and Durrus to collect rubbish from our beaches.

Participants were aked to present it at the harbour commissioner’s office in Bantry for a reward of €5 per bag of litter.

Living close to heavily polluted beaches, we welcomed this campaign, collected some litter and presented it to the harbour commissioner - only to learn that the campaign was a hoax. Nobody is backing the campaign with his or her name.