The Deposit Return Scheme has helped with the “tremendous improvement” in the cleanliness of Irish beaches this year, Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) has said. 

33 beaches, harbours and rivers were monitored by the group, of which 17 were deemed ‘clean’ - a 50% improvement on 2024. 

Just three were judged to be ‘littered’ - down from 11 last year - and not a single beach was judged to be ‘heavily littered’. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, IBAL spokesperson Conor Horgan described it as “really good news”. 

“We’ve been monitoring our beaches and waters for the last eight years and just a few years ago there were very few of those areas which were deemed clean - just a handful,” he said. 

“Now over half of them are clean; it’s a change which has occurred just in the last few years. 

“The other side of the coin, we used to talk about litter blackspots on our coastlines; there were areas deemed heavily littered, there’s no areas occupying those lower categories now. 

“We’ve just three areas deemed littered; Dog’s Bay in Galway, White Bay in Cork and Dingle in Kerry.” 

Light breaks through dark clouds on gloomy day at Dollymount Strand beach. Picture by: Nicola K photos / Alamy.com.

Mr Horgan continued that the figures were “more remarkable” given how sunny the weather has been this year. 

“That can prove a challenge to local authorities where, with our unpredictable weather, a beach can be empty one day and full the next,” he explained. 

“It’s difficult to deploy resources to clean those areas - but they seem to have done a good job of it.” 

Mr Horgan added that there are variety of reasons behind the trend. 

“I think just as we give credit to the Tidy Towns for the work in keeping our towns clean, I think credit must be given to the volunteers, to the Clean Coast groups that every week clean up our beaches,” he said. 

“There’s a real appetite for this work and those groups are expanding.

“I think we’re seeing the fruits of this in the results today.” 

Hundreds of tourists and locals hit the beach at Rosscarbery in West Cork. Picture by: AG News/Alamy Live News.

Mr Horgan also credited two anti-littering initiatives brought in by the Government and the European Union. 

“A simple thing like the tethering of caps to plastic bottles means this has disappeared as a litter form,” he said. 

“With the Deposit Return Scheme, we’re also seeing a significant fall in the amount of plastic bottles and cans on our beaches. 

“So, it’s a combination of factors.” 

All of this, Mr Horgan believes, has helped create a virtuous circle where people are less likely to litter. 

“I think cleanliness begets cleanliness, I think you’re less likely to ruin a pristine beach than if litter is the norm on that beach,” he said. 

“I would mention that coffee cups remain a problem. 

“If we’re going to do something about that, I think we need to look to a levy. 

“That’s something that has been parked by the current Government.”

Main image: A split of a woman using the Deposit Return Scheme and a beach in Clare. Pictures by: Newstalk and Alamy.com.