Barista Bar staff swap their coffee cups for litter pickers as they take part in Council’s first ever Big Spring Clean
Barista Bar has partnered with Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council to support their volunteers who participated in the Big Spring Clean Weekend, which took place 6th – 8th May.
Several Barista Bar staff also took part in a special litter pick between SPAR Greystone and SPAR Parkhall in Antrim, cleaning up the area that stretches between both stores for the local community, in support of the initiative.
The partnership is part of Barista Bar’s continued commitment to be a sustainable brand, ensuring they make a difference to local outdoor spaces. As part of this effort, the team behind the brand has partnered with a number of trusted organisations which work on environmentally friendly driven campaigns, such as Leave No Trace and the Right Side of Outside, to help educate, promote and support Keep NI Beautiful.
Following from Barista Bar’s partnership with Walk NI, which was established last year, the Big Spring Clean from Keep NI Beautiful, is their most recent initiative to get involved in, and is the largest community clean up in Northern Ireland, taking place every year from March to May. Since its beginning, there have been more than 800 tonnes of waste cleaned up by over 553,000 volunteers, making a huge impact across the country.
Leanne Smits, Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Waste Education & Awareness Officer commented: “Litter picks seek to involve broad engagement with local community, residents, schools, community groups and businesses. The overall aim is to enhance local community spirit, increase pride in the local environment and empower communities to take on future projects to address litter in their local area, contributing to wider behaviour change.
“This is the first year for Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Big Spring Clean Weekend campaign and it is our hope to grow the programme every year.”
Keavy O’Mahony-Truesdale, Barista Bar Brand Manager, also joined the litter pick to kick off the weekend, and said, “As a brand we are dedicated to helping keep local communities free of litter, so we are delighted to be involved in this Borough’s first year of the Big Spring Clean.
“We believe through these partnerships we can help encourage people to think responsibly by promoting the use of the Barista Bar reusable cup or if using a single use cup, to dispose of this correctly and not throw them on the ground. We hope to continue supporting this initiative and sustain the growth of the program with the Barista Bar brand.”
Around 100 volunteers took part in the initiative across the constituency over the weekend, and will all receive a Barista Bar reusable cup, with younger volunteers getting a reusable water bottle made from recycled materials.
Barista Bar has also contributed 250 loaded loyalty cards for the 100 volunteers from the weekend, and for future volunteers who wish to actively be involved to Keep NI Beautiful, which will be distributed by the Council to those who sign up.
To get involved in the Big Spring Clean visit, Big Spring Clean.
