Leitrim nominee for Individual Eco-Hero Award

The annual Outsider Awards event celebrates all of the amazing achievements, milestones and contributions that have taken place in the Irish outdoor community over the past year. We have to say that we are truly blown away by the calibre of our nominees so far in 2023. 

Martina Healy’s #2MinuteBeachCleans – which she posts daily on her Instagram account leitrimlittlepicker – have raised huge awareness of marine litter and the plastic pollution problem this year, and reminded people you don’t need a lot of time to make a big difference to your local environment.

Martina, from Drumkeeran in Co Leitrim, responded to a call from the charity Clean Coasts to start doing #2MinuteBeachCleans.

“People may think two minutes is a very short time to make a difference, but small actions add up to make a big difference,” she says.

“Every piece of plastic removed from the marine environment is no longer a danger to our marine life and environment and if everybody in Ireland did one #2MinuteBeachClean per month in 2023, that would be over 100,000 tonnes of litter removed from our ocean.”  

She mostly picks up plastic bottles, plastic food wrappers, plastic baling wrap (a big problem in the rural area where she lives) and vape bars, which she says are becoming the “new replacement for disposal coffee cups.” And she tries to recycle as much of that litter as possible.

“People are very supportive, and they are delighted that County Leitrim is being recognised for playing our part on a global scale,” she says.

“When I chat to people they really want to know about the effects of litter, especially on their health, with more information about nanoplastics coming out all the time. Litter is not being collected just to keep my community looking good, it’s being collected to keep future generations healthy.” 

The annual awards ceremony takes place on Wednesday, 21st February in the Sugar Club, Dublin.

Title sponsor for the Outsider Awards 2023 is Sport Ireland, with other supporting sponsors Craghoppers, Leave No Trace, Salewa, Vagabond Tours, Sustainable Travel Ireland and Nuasan.