Mother Nature’s Daughters

Meeting up with Katie, Issy and Clara down at the South Beach this morning as they set about cleaning up the many little nests of rubbish, they noticed a pattern.

“There’s an awful lot of beer bottles around here,” says 10-year-old Katie. “And vodka bottles, and gin bottles, and wine bottles…”

“I think we’re definitely seeing a pattern here,” chips in 11-year-old Clara.

“Definitely,” nods 9-year-old Issy.

How these kids instinctively recognise vodka bottles from gin bottles and wine bottles is a matter for another day, but, it’s clear that, for some, the Covid-19 lockdown has become one long, drunken and lost weekend. Head to the South Beach, the Charlesland cornfield or Cypress Hill up in Kindlestown, and you’ll find the aftermath of many an outdoor session. Often held by those who are hellbent on giving drugs a bad name.

Talking to Ruairí O’Hanlon earlier in the week about Greystones’s sudden upsurge in discarded rubbish and overflowing bins, the town engineer also recognises a pattern.

“We’ve had quite a number of complaints about overflowing bins,” he says, “and contrary to some social media posts, Wicklow County Council hasn’t simply stopped emptying them. The bins are emptied every day, including on Bank Holiday weekends, but, if you look at the photo [right] taken at 8.40pm on Tuesday 2nd, checking the data logs, we can see that this bin was emptied at 2.40pm that afternoon. 

“So, the issue at present is not that Wicklow County Council is not emptying the bins, the issue in this case is the large gatherings of people on the beach, illegally drinking alcohol in a public place, and then leaving their rubbish for someone else to dispose of. Should we be grateful here that some saw fit to leave their rubbish at a bin, as many just leave it on the beach itself? Worth noting, there are recycling bins less than one minute’s walk from this overflowing bin.”

With takeaways the order of the day, people are, says O’Hanlon, simply dropping rubbish exactly at the spot it was consumed. Which may explain why Ruairí & co had the pleasure of watching a rat on the Monsignor Wallace memorial bench opposite the Holy Rosary helping himself to some leftovers.

Not sure though if anything can explain or excuse the asshole teens spotted down the Charlesland end of the South Beach on Wednesday drinking and then throwing their empty beer bottles at nearby seals.

“I should point out that there is no legal obligation to provide or empty bins,” continues O’Hanlon, “But, we do, and the real issue is some Greystones residents simply being filthy people who are, in fact, breaking a number of laws by drinking in a public place, as well as littering and dumping. Perhaps we should simply remove all the bins, and let the town be how these particular people seemingly want it to be? This would certainly free up some much-needed funds for other areas of concern…”

The call for more bins, and more workers emptying those bins, doesn’t sit well with Ruairí either. The budget simply isn’t there, and, as he states, it’s more about people tidying up after themselves than expecting a S.W.A.T. team of cleaners following their every whim and bag of chips.

In the meantime, we have the mighty Greystones Tidy Towns – who are, in many ways, the town’s S.W.A.T. team of cleaners – making sure this garden town is always in full bloom. And we have incredible young volunteers like Katie, Issy and Clara…

You can find out more about Greystones Tidy Towns right here, check out their new Pollinator Path here, and get in touch directly on greystonestidytowns@gmail.com.