New report reveals 3.3m items of litter on NI coastline at any time

Plastic makes up over 78% of the waste on Northern Ireland’s beaches, including many ‘single use’ items such as drinks bottles, food wrappers and broken pieces of plastic. Six of the top 10 most common littered items on NI beaches were found to be derived from single-use plastics.

There were also many short pieces of string and rope, which may have originated from fishing activity.

The surveys of beach litter are carried out four times a year by trained volunteers across 11 ‘reference’ beaches around Northern Ireland’s coast.

The surveys are funded by the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and all the data collected feeds into the OSPAR Commission database.

Environment Minister Edwin Poots said: “I welcome publication of the Marine Litter Report 2019. This year’s report highlights the steady progress being made in tackling marine litter in Northern Ireland.

“The figures reveal the stark reality of litter on our beaches, with over 22,000 pieces of litter collected across 11 beaches, with 78% of this made from single use plastic. It is a reminder of our continued fight against plastic pollution.

“We all want to see changes where we live and see a continuing reduction in the number of pieces of litter appearing in our waters and along our coastline. With summer upon us and an ease on coronavirus restrictions many of us may choose to holiday at home. However, I would remind people of the need to ‘leave no trace’, to take all their litter home with them and recycle it where they can.”

The full report can be found at www.keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org/marinelitter.