'Plastic is suffocating our ocean'- Irish adults admit to flushing these items down toilet

Ireland is the number one plastic waste producer in the European Union, with 65kg of plastic waste per person produced each year, according to research.

Ireland is also the country with the fifth lowest recycling rate with an estimated two million disposable coffee cups a day in going into landfill and around 22 million plastic bottles being purchased each week.

Research has also found that one in five adults in Ireland regularly admits to flushing items down the toilet that contain plastic and are known to cause blockages. These items such as wipes, cotton bud sticks and dental floss can cause detrimental effects on wastewater treatment plants and networks, impacting river and marine environments.

Ireland has some of the most diverse and spectacular coastlines in the world but "our excessive use of plastic is polluting our oceans and it is having impacts on our waterways and threatening our marine wildlife and people's health," according to Clean Coasts.

Clean Coasts consists of large community groups that host beach clean-ups, empower volunteers, facilitating marine litter surveys and complete a range of environmental focused activities across the country.

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Only around 9% of the plastics ever produced have been recycled and 12% have been incinerated. The rest is either still in use or has been disposed of in landfills or released into the environment, including the oceans, according to Clean Coasts.

The #CleanCoastsRoadshow hit Lahinch beach recently for an epic #BeachClean and #CoastalAction with #BannerGleo and @WCSCIRL!

Big thanks to everyone who showed up to protect our shores! ✨ #CleanCoasts #CommunityConnection pic.twitter.com/hCMPo4fqen

— Clean Coasts (@CleanCoasts) May 6, 2025

Besides polluting the environment, plastic production also contributes to climate change with annual emissions in the EU amounting to around 13.4 million tonnes of CO2, according to Clean Coasts.

Plastic generally takes between 450 and 1,000 years to decompose and plastic waste is now suffocating our ocean, according to Clean Coasts.

According to the Ocean Conservancy Coastal Clean-Up report 2023, these were the most common items found on the Irish Coast:

• 4,059 cigarette butts
• 2,587 plastic food wrappers 
• 1,708 plastic beverage bottles
• 433 plastic bottle caps
• 561 straws and stirrers
• 692 paper cups and plates
• 214 plastic grocery bags
• 964 plastic takeaway containers
• 511 other plastic bags