Tidy N.I. announce 21 awards

Holidaymakers planning to spend this summer on Northern Ireland's coastline will be spoilt for choice following the announcement that Northern Ireland beaches have been awarded six Blue Flag Awards and four Green Coast Awards and eleven Seaside Awards.

The internationally recognised Blue Flag, sponsored by Northern Ireland Tourist Board, is awarded to beaches that satisfy 29 different criteria including litter-free sands, quality bathing water, safety and cleanliness, was presented to Benone, Portrush Whiterocks, Portstewart Strand, Tyrella and Cranfield West and joining the roll of honour for the first time this year is Murlough Beach in County Down.

Portrush West Strand and Downhill were the only beaches to lose their Blue Flag status this year, suffering from deterioration in water quality brought about by heavy rainfall last summer.

Alan Clarke, Chief Executive at Northern Ireland Tourist Board, said: "Northern Ireland continues to welcome more and more visitors with recent statistics showing a 26% increase in holiday visitors from the Republic of Ireland. Our stunning coastline insures that such visitors have a memorable experience and we welcome the news that six of our beaches have been rewarded with Blue Flag status."

The Coca-Cola sponsored Green Coast Award, which is awarded to more rural beaches, recognised for their natural unspoilt beauty, guideline water quality and cleanliness was presented to Helens Bay and Blue Flag winners Tyrella, Murlough and Cranfield West. Four additional beaches on the County Down coast were also recognised for their efforts this year in working towards the Green Coast Award, with Cloughey, Rossglass, Minerstown and Crawfordsburn all entering into the Green Coast Award pilot phase.

Gillian McBrien, Public Relations Executive of Coca-Cola HBC Northern Ireland, said, "We are proud to support the 'Green Coast Awards'. As a local company we have been investing in community projects for some 70 years and are proud to partner with Tidy NI, an organisation that is committed to protecting our local environment and championing environmental change for Northern Ireland's coastline. Congratulations to all the beach managers and local communities from around Northern Ireland on achieving these prestigious awards."

Seaside awards were also given to eleven of our beaches including Portrush East Strand, Portrush West Strand, Downhill, Portstewart Strand, Cranfield West, Murlough and Tyrella. Additionally, Rural Seaside Awards were given to Brown's Bay, Ballygally and Carnlough in the Larne area, as well as Millisle.

Dr Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive of TIDY Northern Ireland, the charity which operate the Blue Flag, Green Coast and Seaside Awards in the province, added: "It's great that we are able to provide people with a wide range of high quality beaches, especially at a time when people are perhaps considering spending their holidays close to home. The beach operators have worked hard to ensure our shoreline is in great condition, and I would call on the public to do their bit as well. By using the bins provided and keeping litter off the beach, we can all enjoy the summer months relaxing on beaches that any exotic destination would be proud of."

Northern Ireland Blue Flag Beaches 2009

New Entry: Murlough. Out from last year: Portrush West Strand and Downhill

Northern Ireland Green Coast Award Beaches 2009

Northern Ireland Seaside Award Beaches 2009

R=Resort; r=rural

Plans to improve the quality of our local environment.

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Volunteers dedicated to cleaning up Northern Ireland's coastline have been honoured at Stormont where they were presented with prestigious Clean Coast Awards by Environment Minister Edwin Poots.

An opportunity has arisen for a secondment within TIDY Northern Ireland. The main duties of the role, as Administative Officer, is to provide administrative support to the Chief Executive and Staff as appropriate and to co-ordinate administrative systems and services, in order to ensure the smooth and efficient functioning of the organisation and its programmes of work.

The amount of money spent cleaning up annually after Northern Ireland's litter louts could be used to pay the wages of an additional 1,400 nurses or construct five new schools every year.

The huge interest generated by TIDY NI's innaugural Litter Summit has meant registrations have had to be closed for the Belfast based event, to be held on Friday 2nd October.

TIDY Northern Ireland in association with Coca-Cola is running the very first Clean Coast Awards in Northern Ireland and has now begun accepting entries. Designed to acknowledge the excellent work of individuals and groups involved in the volunteering up and down our coast, the awards recognise the vital role volunteers play in protecting our fragile coastal environment.

Ballymoney Primary School Eco-Schools Award

Moneynick Primary School, Randalstown has become the latest recipient of an Eco-Schools Green Flag.

The most comprehensive Litter Summit ever staged in Northern Ireland will be hosted by TIDY Northern Ireland on Friday 2nd October 2009

Northern Ireland's Eco-Schools programme is going from strength to strength, with huge numbers of schools taking up the challenge. St Clare's Convent Primary School in Newry are a recent addition to the Eco-Schools roll of honour, having been rewarded with their Green Flag

Volunteers around Northern Ireland are getting ready to do their bit in the fight against coastal pollution as part of the Coca-Cola Clean Coast Week.

Litter louts in some areas of Northern Ireland are being given licence to pollute our streets with little or no chance of being brought to account for their actions.

That is the shocking conclusion from a recent TIDY Northern Ireland survey which reveals many councils are reluctant to prosecute litterers despite litter levels across the province failing to improve for the first time in four years.

Coastal enthusiasts including the Portrush Sea Cadets and Christian Youth Fellowship gathered on Portrush, Whiterocks beach on Saturday to celebrate the launch of TIDY Northern Ireland's Clean Coast Programme, spelling out the need for environmental change to protect Northern Ireland's fragile coastline.

Clean Coast Programme volunteers have been out and about this weekend giving the shores of Killyleagh a big spring clean. The enthusiastic volunteers included MEP Jim Nicholson from the Ulster Unionist Party, Councillor Edward Rea from Down District Council and seven other UUP members who gave a helping hand on the day.

For the first time in four years Northern Ireland's streets have failed to show an improvement in litter levels.

Eco-Schools continues to grow rapidly with interest in this successful education for sustainable development programme becoming truly global. It is estimated that in 2009, Eco-Schools will involve 6.3 million pupils and 400,000 dedicated teachers. In the past year it has involved 5.5million pupils in 27,000 schools with 5,000 of these attaining the prestigious Green Flag award.

The TIDY Northern Ireland website has recently welcomed its 100,000 visitor of the year. 2008 has been a record breaking year for the site with more visitors and more downloads than ever before, and we reached the six figure mark a full 6 weeks before the new year.

Listen to your kids - they can save you money and help you beat the recession.

After an absence of three years, the Seaside Awards are set to return to Northern Ireland. When the awards were last issued there were 14 Seaside Awards around our coast, and now they are being adopted again and will up and running in 2009.

A team of volunteers have just completed a clean up of Browns Bay beach, Islandmagee as part of the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) Beachwatch 2008, the UK's biggest national beach litter survey and clean-up.

Introducing an initiative to boost the number of yellow school buses for primary schools across Great Britain could save parents up to £92m a year in petrol costs and reduce carbon emissions by 55,000 tonnes a year.

Eight beaches have been awarded the Green Coast Award by TIDY Northern Ireland for their natural unspoilt beauty.

Civic-minded local volunteers helped clean the beach at Carnlough Saturday afternoon at low tide. Organised by Larne Borough Council together with Tidy NI, volunteers from the community, including the Carnlough Community Association and the Marine Conservation Society helped to tidy the beach.

A car door, a bicycle and a plastic bottle washed ashore from Holland were among the more unusual items removed from Nicholson's Strand, Kilkeel during a recent litter pick organised by TIDY Northern Ireland.

Beijing has mounted a huge litter offensive in its bid to project a positive image of the city during the Olympics, but while efforts to clean the streets are to be lauded, it should be an initiative that is implemented every day, every year, and in every country of the world regardless of special occasions.

Ballymacash Primary School has become the 200^th school in the province to receive a Bronze Eco-Schools Award.

Most people believe the residents of Northern Ireland are the main contributors to the poor state of the environment in which we live, according a poll on the TIDY Northern Ireland website.

Staff from Carrickfergus NIR & Ulsterbus, Jordanstown NIR and Downpatrick Ulsterbus facilities are celebrating, following their achievement of "Gold Level" awards in the TIDY Translink Awards programme.

Local volunteers removed a step ladder and a pair of trousers from the beach at Brown's Bay, Islandmagee as they took part in a litter pick organised by Larne Borough Council and TIDY Northern Ireland.

Fermanagh and Strabane are celebrating their first Eco-Schools Green Flags following presentations to both Kesh and St Columbas Primary Schools.

Despite the province achieving seven Blue Flag Beaches for 2008 for the second consecutive year, litter levels on our beaches have increased by a massive 124% according to a survey conducted by the Marine Conservation Society's Beach Watch.

Seven beaches in Northern Ireland have been bestowed the prestigious Blue Flag award for 2008 for having litter-free sands and clean bathing waters - the same number as last year.

Staff at Bangor NIR station joined forces with North Down Borough Council this week to take park in the Councils annual Spring Clean week.

Explorer Ben Fogle was at Ballyholme this week to launch TIDY Northern Ireland's Green Coast Award which is supported by Coca-Cola Bottlers (Ulster Ltd).

TIDY NI has just awarded its 21^st Permanent Eco-Schools Green Flag in Northern Ireland - and it goes to a Playgroup!

TIDY Northern Ireland welcomes Dr Ian Humphreys as their new Chief Executive Officer this week.

TIDY Northern Ireland and Translink are calling on local communities to tackle environmental issues and take pride in their neighbourhood.

Many of the councils within Northern Ireland regard the cleanliness of our environment as a low priority and some have never issued a fine to discourage litter on our streets, despite more than 50% of the public believing Northern Ireland is not a clean country*.

The cleanliness of our streets has improved for the third year in succession, but a rising tide of sweet wrappers and cigarette butts is threatening to reverse the trend.

The condition of the province's beaches is set for a boost following the release of a new marine bill which will encourage better use of our marine resources, improve marine biodiversity and reduce the amount of litter on our coastline.

The media recently has focused on the problem of plastic in the mid Pacific Ocean on Midway Island where it is causing major problems to the local wildlife inhabitants and many people here in Northern Ireland may be saying "what is that to do with us" - well the answer is everything.

Following an Easter holiday period in which Northern Ireland consumers have spent £8 million on chocolate eggs, TIDY Northern Ireland has called on everyone to dispose of their Easter egg packaging in a proper manner.

A new TIDY Northern Ireland programme is set to land on our shores for the first time this year. The Clean Coast Programme will boost efforts to clean up our coastline and will offer recognition for good management practice on our more rural beaches.

Eco-Schools in NI has signed up to be a Northern Ireland Delivery Partner in the BBC Breathing Places Schools initiative

Kids are more concerned about the environment than their elders, and are telling their parents to change their attitudes when it comes to halting environmental decline.

Recent applications for an Eco-Schools grant were of a 'very high standard' according to the judging panel, which assessed almost 50 applications from across the UK, including some from Northern Ireland.

Would you like a job where you can lead the way to a brighter, cleaner, tidier tomorrow?

A vacancy has arisen for the Chief Executive post with TIDY Northern Ireland. Further details are included in the attached files.

Despite icy mornings and snow falls still fresh in the memory, the meeting of the 2008 Blue Flag jury means summer must be getting closer. The England and Northern Ireland Blue Flag jury convened recently to judge the 8 beaches from Northern Ireland and 90 from mainland Britain set to go forward for the International Blue Flag for Beaches award.

Throughout Northern Ireland celebrations are taking place to mark the start of the Chinese New Year, but thanks to the continuing problem of people dropping food on our streets, we could be entering the 'Year of the Rat' in more ways than one.

An Eco-School is saving money and helping the environment by recycling cooking oil.

St Malachy's Primary School student Katie O'Hare has won first prize in the Illegal Dumping Campaign Schools Poster Competition, run by Translink in partnership with TIDY Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council.

Many of the province's schools are set to be rewarded for their environmental efforts following the news that Eco-Schools and Currys have joined forces to award grants of up to £4,000 for schools who embrace projects on ecological issues.

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Businesses must provide more butt bins and ashtrays outside public premises to combat the alarming rise in cigarette litter.

TIDY Northern Ireland have backed calls for a chewing gum tax to clean up our streets, after the proposal was recently debated in the House of Commons.

Translink and TIDY Northern Ireland have joined forces to tackle the on-going problem of illegal dumping across the province.

One of Northern Ireland's most prevalent forms of litter could soon be a thing of the past, following the development of a non-stick paving treatment. Discarded chewing gum comes out as one of the most common forms of litter in every TIDY Northern Ireland survey, and local councils spend tens of thousands of pounds of rate payers money every year trying to combat the problem, but technology could finally provide a solution.

Cairnshill Primary School became the 20^th school in the province to receive the highest Eco-Schools accolade when they were presented with their Permanent Green Flag from Environment Minister Arlene Foster.

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TIDY Northern Ireland has urged supermarkets to make a bigger effort to reduce the amount of packaging, following reports that the Government is in danger of missing recycling targets because as much as 40% of packaging cannot be recycled.

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TIDY Northern Ireland wishes to appoint a Part Time (18.75hr week)

Coastal Officer

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On the spot litter fines are set to rise in the Republic of Ireland from €125 to €150. The change was announced by the Minister for the Environment John Gormley and is due to come into place from September this year. This is higher than the fine north of the border, and the Irish government insists it reflects the seriousness of the offence.

Northern Ireland is a dirty country. That is the verdict of its residents, after the province's largest ever litter survey revealed that people believe they live in unclean surroundings.

Eco-Schools in Northern Ireland, run by TIDY Northern Ireland, has awarded the province's 20th Permanent Green Flag to Cairnshill Primary School. The prestigious Green Flag is awarded to schools who meet the top level criteria for each of the seven elements of the Eco-Schools process, and after years of effort and hard work, Carnshill Primary has been rewarded with permanent flag status.

You wouldn't drop litter on your own doorstep, so don't drop it in the street. That is the message from TIDY Northern Ireland after its survey out today (Tuesday 3^rd July) reported that cleanliness levels are much better in residential areas than anywhere else.

TIDY Northern Ireland has given their backing to Republic of Ireland based organisation 'Irish Business Against Litter', who are calling on the Irish Government to issue penalty points to motorists caught littering from vehicles. A survey commissioned by IBAL revealed litter black spots on the approaches to 50 towns and cities surveyed across Ireland. The report also highlighted the inadequate provision of litter disposal facilities at road lay-bys where many long haul drivers stop to eat. North of the border is no exception to this plight, as many of our roadsides have been defaced with carelessly discarded litter.

TIDY Northern Ireland has revealed that the amount of smoking related litter on our streets has increased by 17% following the introduction of the public smoking ban at the end of April.

Waste is an issue that has a direct influence on our environment, and efficient management of this waste is a vital tool in improving Local Environmental Quality.

Last week it was the turn of the younger section of the community to have their say on the issue, as children from primary and post-primary schools in every council area competed against each other to speak on the topic of "Reduce, reuse and recycle."

Five Gold Award winners were among 40 businesses in the North Down area to receive TIDY Business awards at the local council's recent awards ceremony.

TIDY Northern Ireland has joined the Mourne Heritage Trust in calling for the public to be more aware of the problems caused by litter pollution.

Following complaints from a Warrenpoint resident regarding the high levels of litter at Lough Shannagh last weekend, Matthew Bushby of the Trust asked for the general public in the area to be more responsible.

EIGHT beaches in Northern Ireland have been bestowed the prestigious Blue Flag awards today for having litter-free sands and clean bathing waters - the same number as last year.

The staff and Trustees are sad to report the recent death of fellow TIDY NI Trustee George Dawson MLA. George had been a Trustee of TIDY for over two years and we extend our deepest sympathies to his wife and family at their loss. He was a truly lovely man and will be sorely missed by everyone.