27 tonnes of marine litter removed during coca-cola clean ...

Coca-Cola Clean Coast Week volunteers pictured celebrating one of the most successful years yet

Jul 05, 2019 11:08 BST

27 tonnes of marine litter removed duringcoca-cola clean coasts week

27 tonnes of marine litter were removed from beaches and coastlines duringCoca-Cola Clean Coasts Week 2019, which ran from 1 - 9 June, launched by alarge-scale beach art project created by local volunteers.

Communities joined together to host beach clean-ups and celebrate thecoastline with fun water-based activities. Over the course of the week, inNorthern Ireland alone, 1859 volunteers collected 931 litter bags across 65events – that’s more than double the number of volunteers from the previous

year. Across the Island of Ireland that totalled 27 tonnes of marine litterremoved - 9 tonnes more than last year.

Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week aimed to engage and empower people andcommunities to protect our precious coastal resources and appreciateeverything our coastline has to offer. Events included free beach yoga classes,underwater litter picks, seaweed workshops, hiking and canoeing clean upsand plogging (the Scandinavian trend of picking up litter while jogging), toname a few.

Jodie McAneaney, Live Here Love Here Manager at Keep Northern IrelandBeautiful comments: “With almost 200 events across the Island of Ireland,Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week 2019 has been one of our most successful yet.Here in Northern Ireland we have doubled the number of people taking partsince last year which is an incredible achievement – thanks must go to thesededicated volunteers who have worked so hard. Our aim is to inspire a cleancoasts community which will continue to protect, preserve and enjoy ourbeaches, rivers, lakes and loughs for years to come.”

Speaking about their involvement, Gillian Shields, Packaging andSustainability Manager, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland said,“Coca-Cola has been proudly supporting the Clean Coasts programme for thepast 11 years. Through our involvement in the Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Weekthis year, we are delighted to have helped support the thousands ofvolunteers across the island of Ireland who are caring for our beaches whilstchampioning responsible behaviour when it comes to littering.”

For further information on how to get involved with any of the Live HereLove Here projects visit www.liveherelovehere.org

• For further press information, please contact Katie Gawley atNavigator Blue on 02890246722 [email protected]

• For Mid and East Antrim Borough Council media enquiries T: 0282563 5037 E: [email protected] 

• Join Mid and East Antrim Borough Council on Facebook or followus on Twitter

Live Here Love Here is a national campaign aimed at promoting civic prideand a community can-do attitude by improving environmental quality inNorthern Ireland. We tackle issues such as poor environmental quality,littering and dilapidation, by encouraging volunteers to take practical actionin their local communities. Live Here Love Here is an inspiring partnershipbetween the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs;Northern Ireland Housing Executive; Coca-Cola; McDonald’s UK; Antrim andNewtownabbey Borough Council; Ards and North Down Borough Council;Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council; Belfast City Council;Derry City and Strabane District Council; Fermanagh and Omagh DistrictCouncil; Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council; Mid and East Antrim BoroughCouncil; Mid Ulster District Council and Newry, Mourne and Down DistrictCouncil working alongside Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. To learn moreplease visit www.liveherelovehere.org.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is a charity working towards the vision of acleaner, greener Northern Ireland by running environmental educationprogrammes and awareness raising campaigns, increasing volunteeringopportunities and reporting on local environmental quality. Keep NorthernIreland Beautiful runs a range of awareness raising and volunteeringcampaigns including the BIG Spring Clean and the Clean Coasts programmeas well as local environmental quality programmes such as international Eco-Schools and Blue Flag programmes, the Seaside Award, Borough CleanlinessSurveys and Live Here Love Here Green Business Awards. For moreinformation, visit www.keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org or view our MediaKit here.

About Coca-ColaThe Coca-Cola Company, together with bottling partners Coca-Cola HBCIreland and Northern Ireland, manufactures, distributes and responsiblymarkets a full range of beverages, including 20 brands and 49 differentproducts that are sold in thousands of retail outlets across the country. TheCoca-Cola Company is responsible for creating demand through consumermarketing and brand development and Coca-Cola HBC, as bottling partner,manufactures, sells and distributes products to more than 9,000 outletsacross the island of Ireland. Together, the Coca-Cola system employs 1,750people across the island of Ireland. Our products range from Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke through to Sprite, Fanta, Powerade, Oasis,Schweppes, Fruice and Deep RiverRock. 97% of everything that we sell acrossthe island of Ireland is manufactured from our plant in Knockmore Hill,Lisburn, Co. Antrim.

Contacts

Press OfficePress [email protected] 028 2563 5037

Chris KilpatrickPress ContactHead of [email protected] 302 568

Annamay McNallyPress ContactPress [email protected] 305 586

Claire TennysonPress ContactMedia Relations [email protected]

Deborah CummingsPress ContactPress [email protected] 544 094

Megan MackayPress ContactPress [email protected] 802 643