Waterford Council has launched the 'Green Your Picnic' campaign, encouraging people to bring their own cups and tupperware with them when visiting beauty spots.
It's anticipated that 2.25 million euro single use cups and bottles will be used this bank holiday weekend alone.
And Ella Ryan, Environmental Awareness Officer with Waterford City and County Council, is reminding people that coffee shops are still taking reusable cups.
They had fallen out of fashion during the pandemic but the local authority is encouraging people to bring them along when meeting friends outdoors this long weekend.
"As many will have noticed over the weekend, the summer months will see an increase in litter and waste at amenity areas around the county," Ms Ryan said.
"We are launching a Green Your Picnic campaign this week to encourage people to bring their litter home with them and bring reusable items such as water bottles and coffee cups wherever possible. We aim to promote positive and active participation in a campaign that will focus on the theme of reuse and encourage all to take responsibility for their actions and their waste. If you could like to cover this on the news, I am happy to talk about it or provide further information."
She added: "Key to the campaign is your help in keeping millions of single use cups, bottles and cutlery from ending up as litter. The equivalent of 2.25million single use cups and bottles will be used over a bank holiday weekend. Just removing single use items from your next picnic or bench dining with friends would significantly reduce Ireland’s waste output."
The Council is running a'Green Your Picnic' online workshop, which can be booked on Eventbrite. Details are below:
- Tuesday June 15, 2021 at 10 am: Green Your Picnic tips with a show and tell of different single use swaps that can be made from what people will often have around their house. Speaker from Clean Coasts also.
- Tuesday 15 June at 7pm, Elaine Butler from Living Lightly in Ireland talks about reusing items and its impact on the environment and your pocket.
- Wednesday 16t June 16 at 10am: Reuse with speaker from Refill and Conscious Cup highlighting the impact of single use and advising how to use map/reusable safely e.g. contactless coffee.
- Thursday June 17 at 10 am: Leave No Trace talk about eco picnics.
