Rachel Cunningham
An Taisce has launched this year’s National Spring Clean, which is an appeal to Dubliners, and people all over Ireland, to help to tackle Ireland’s litter problem and to fight climate change all at once.
Over the past 23 years, this initiative has seen people in Ireland volunteer over 12 million hours of their time to remove 42,000 tonnes of litter across the country.
An Taisce hopes to tap into a sense of community spirit this year and the unit urges people of all ages to gather friends, family, classmates, neighbours or colleagues to unite in cleaning their shared green spaces together.
Despite the restrictions associated with Covid-19, last year’s National Spring Clean, which took place between March and August, was reportedly the biggest and longest campaign so far.
In Dublin, over 6,500 volunteers carried out over 400 clean-ups throughout the county in 2021. While in 2022, over 320 groups and communities, such as Clontarf Tidy Towns, Crumlin Community Clean-up Group and Cabra Tidy Towns, have already registered to carry out a clean-up.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, said: “The statistics for what the National Spring Clean achieves every year are staggering and are a real testament to the energy, drive and community commitment of volunteers up and down the country who come out and work hard together to protect, enhance and clear up our local environments.
“It’s unpaid, largely unsung and often unseen work that improves the quality of life for all of us. I would like to salute your work and express my gratitude for the hours of selfless volunteer work that help make National Spring Clean such a critical part of the annual environmental calendar here”.
To guide each community clean-up, the National Spring Clean has provided various downloadable information packs on its website, offering details on how to organise an event, health and safety information, litter facts, useful contacts, media and publicity advice, a guide on how to recycle and information on litter and the law.
The National Spring Clean is operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, in partnership with Local Authorities and supported by the Department of Environment, Communications and Climate Environment and Mars Wrigley Ireland.
Request a free clean-up kit here: www.nationalspringclean.org.
PHOTO – The Irish Green Building Council Staff Members, Pat Barry (CEO), Irene Rondini, Marion Jammet, Amanda Silva, Deirdre Joyce, Alice Ryan and John Fingleton, taking part in National Spring Clean 2021.
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