Recycling a bottle in Leitrim could save a fish in the Atlantic

Martina Healy from Corry is taking it just one bag of litter a day. She tells the Leitrim Observer you don't need to get bogged down in climate action plans and greenhouse gases you can help the planet by picking up litter for just two minutes every day.

Martina has won numerous volunteer and environmental awards, has been featured on RTE and is now a Climate Ambassador for 2022, she asks that we all try and “be part of the solution not the problem.”

Martina does a daily clean up of Corry Strand, Drumkeerin but she also takes her cotton bag everywhere she goes, whether it is a walk down the road, a trip to the beach or even a shopping trip to Sligo.
As we take to the roads to reduce our Christmas pounds or if we are hoping to make a few pounds for Leitrim GAA, Martina asks us all to carry a bag and pick some litter along the way.
“I have always picked up litter but really took it on as an on-going project when I set up my Instagram account over three years ago,” she recalls.

@Leitrimlitterpicker highlights the problem of litter and illegal dumping in the county. Martina may be a one-woman show but she has been in communication with like minded people around the world. She records what she collects from the large hauls to the mundane.

She says that while one bag of litter may be a “drop in the ocean” picking up a plastic bottle on Corry Strand prevents it from making its way down the Shannon and into the Atlantic Ocean.

While Martina is often disgusted by the items or just the quantity people leave behind, she says, “I find that the best way to tackle this problem is to just pick up the litter and not give it too much thought. Analysing the reason why people dump rubbish in a river or discard litter in a scenic place of beauty would end up draining me mentally so I don't question it any more. I just pick it up and when it's gone, my work is completed.”

Martina says she likes to work alone, “I don't want to have to set up meetings and keep minutes, or assign committee roles, I just decide to go for a walk and bring my bag!”

She pays tribute to Leitrim's litter wardens David, Emma and Michael, as well as Clean Coasts, An Taisce and the National Spring Clean initiative.

“If today. I picked up a single piece of litter and removed it from the landscape, then that is a reduction of litter.”

You can request a FREE clean up kit from www.cleancoasts.org