Eco Rangers, Barista Bar and Spar team up to tackle Larne’s litter hotspots

It comes just weeks after a team from Eurospar Linn Road in the town focused on a stretch of the A8, filling 135 bags full of rubbish.

A team from SPAR Kilwaughter, also working on the same road, lifted 45 bags.

The latest efforts saw a group from Barista Bar work with the Eco Rangers and staff from Spar Craigyhill, lifting 20 bags of litter throughout the Craigyhill area.

Barista Bar has been an official partner of the Eco Rangers since 2021.

The coffee-to-go brand is also a partner of WalkNI and is committed to keeping Northern Ireland beautiful and free of litter.

The Eco Rangers, set up by retired paramedic Abe Agnew, are now a 300-strong group of registered volunteers who carry out litter picking across the east Antrim region, removing over 20,000 pieces of litter each week.

Rachel Martin, assistant brand manager from Henderson Foodservice, which owns Barista Bar, said: “We have committed to a number of town clean ups and litter picks around NI’s areas of outstanding beauty throughout the year, and are delighted to continue our partnership with the Eco Rangers here in east Antrim, and with the help of the team from Spar Craigyhill.

“Through this partnership and our work with Walk NI, it is our mission to ensure the public can enjoy getting outdoors without rubbish getting in their way. We know single use coffee cups are amongst the top litter sources in Northern Ireland, and while we’re encouraging our customers to dispose of their cups responsibly, we are also urging the use of our reusable cups, helping us all to be more sustainable and responsible.”

Stephen Marshall, chairman of the Eco Rangers added: "Eco Rangers NI is delighted to partner with local businesses to clean in local areas and raise awareness of the environmental impact of littering.

"We have been proud to see the difference our work has made to the area in the last few years. The area is cleaner, people can take pride in their area again and it’s even made a difference to the wildlife, especially along the shoreline where we’ve carried out intensive cleans to remove huge volumes of historic litter and debris that was destroying the local habitat and generally creating an eyesore.

“Support from local businesses such as Barista Bar and Spar NI is invaluable. They are at the heart of local communities and can provide a focus point for positive change and their support for our volunteers who are out litter picking on a daily basis is priceless. This is the latest of a number of group clean ups we’ve carried out together and I’m delighted to say that we will continue this arrangement on an ongoing basis.

"I hope that other businesses can rise to the challenge in the same way and make a positive difference – our door is always open to help them do that.”