Volunteers praised for Whitehouse clean-up

A team of volunteers from the Love the Lagoon at Whitehouse group carried out litter picks last week.

In total, 20 bags of rubbish were collected from the shore and surrounding area over January 24 and January 26.

The group conducts four clean-ups each year. Commenting, group member Rosie Watkins said: “Plastic dominates the rubbish we find, including bottles, bags, crisp and sweet packets, fast food packaging and footballs. We’ve done four surveys and on average 73 per cent of the litter is made of plastic. The next most frequent rubbish we find is sanitary waste (13 per cent). This presumably comes into the lagoon from storm drains and indicates they are not being bagged and binned in the bathroom.

“The remaining 14 per cent is made up of various items including glass bottles, drinks cans, clothing, rubber, ceramic items and cigarette butts. At every session we’ve found large items such as a tin bath, trolleys, doors and buckets.”

Praising the group, a spokesperson for Antrim and Newtownabbey Council said: “Fantastic work by Love the Lagoon at Whitehouse! If anyone would like to help out with keeping the area clean and tidy, contact the group directly.”

If you would like to take part in an upcoming clean-up at the lagoon, contact Rosie at [email protected]