AQW 28428/17-22

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 20/01/2022
Answered On Date: 02/02/2022
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to prevent littering at recreational spaces along coastlines.

Answer:

While responsibility for managing littering rests primarily with local authorities, my Department continues to work in partnership with councils and bodies such as Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful (KNIB), NI Water and the National Trust to prevent littering along our coastline. It is a combined approach of legislation, fixed penalties, education, awareness raising and sharing ideas at platforms such as the Better Beaches Forum. All of these are aimed at preventing littering at recreational spaces along our coast.

At a practical level, my Department, through working with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, launched a Marine Litter Capital Grants Scheme in 2021. The scheme provided funding to 17 projects to a value of £225,000. The projects funded include one in the Carrickfergus and Glenarm Marina area, which helped the Council to increase number and capacity of litter bins. The bins will have graphic frames installed with links to marketing and social media campaigns to help reduce litter and raise awareness of the impact of plastic pollution. Further information on the type of projects funded is available from: https://www.liveherelovehere.org/cgi-bin/generic?instanceID=66.

DAERA’s Environment Fund also provides significant financial support to Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful to run a number of programmes, including: Live Here, Love Here (LHLH), Clean Coast, Adopt-A-Spot, Big Spring Clean, marine litter surveys/clean ups, and the Eco-Schools programme. These programmes strongly promote accountability and the need for everyone to dispose of their litter properly. The programmes also provide practical support and advice to litter picking groups and communities interested in improving their environment.

In addition, my Department is bringing forward legislation aimed at tackling some of the most problematic plastics to reduce plastic pollution, for example Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and legislation restricting the sale of certain single-use plastic items for which there are more sustainable alternatives. These measures are all aimed at keeping plastic in our economy and out of our environment.