Visitors invited to give two minutes of their time to clean Islandmagee and Carnlough beaches

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council secured over £3,000 from the Live Here Love Here Marine Litter Capital Grants Scheme – funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) - to purchase equipment and machinery to prevent rubbish entering the marine environment.

Council used part of the money to purchase ‘2 Minute Beach Clean Boards’ for Brown’s Bay, Islandmagee and Carnlough South Bay. Each board includes all the information and equipment residents and visitors will need if they have two minutes spare on their visit to the beach to carry out a quick clean – including litter pickers and plastic bags.

Council works in partnership with the Live Here Love Here (LHLH) campaign (from the environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful) which promotes civic pride and creating better environments for local communities.

The 2 Minute Beach Clean is spearheaded by the 2 Minute Foundation, a registered charity devoted to cleaning up the planet two minutes at a time with simple, achievable acts that can add up to make a great difference.

The Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Alderman Gerardine Mulvenna, said: “We are delighted to have secured this vital funding to help protect our beautiful coastal areas.

"We are aware of the ongoing issue of littering - particularly single-use plastic litter and welcome the collaborative approach in raising awareness, educating the public and putting in place interventions such as the 2 Minute Beach Clean Boards to reduce this type of pollution.”

Litter Pick

Lisa Kirkwood, outdoor recreation officer for the council, said: “We hope that residents and visitors using our beautiful beaches and coast lines will help us keep them spick and span by taking part in a 2 Minute Beach Clean as part of their visit.

"Once the litter has been collected, residents and visitors can empty the contents of the bag into a nearby litter bin before returning the litter pick and reusable bag back to the 2 Minute Beach Clean Board.”

Catherine Hunter, environmental education officer for the council, said: “We were delighted to secure the funding to not only provide the 2 Minute Beach Clean Boards but also an educational anti-littering video which is appearing on council’s social media channels.

"Through this funding we hope to engender behavioural change to tackle littering and promote our borough as a clean, green and welcoming place to live, work and visit.”

The Marine Litter Capital Grants were open to any organisation with responsibilities for managing free-to-access public open space. Funded projects were required to demonstrate innovative, creative or functional approaches to prevent litter reaching the marine environment. With 80% of marine litter originating from land-based activities, grants were distributed across all geographical areas of Northern Ireland to meet the scale of the challenge.

Helen Tomb, Live Here Love Here manager, commented: “As always, we extend our thanks to our generous and hard-working volunteers for giving us their free time to help keep Northern Ireland beautiful. We encourage as many groups as possible to reach out to us if they want to Live Here Love Here.”

For further information on the Marine Litter Capital Grants Scheme, visit www.liveherelovehere.org