“Dublin’s city centre seems to be in reverse” when it comes to cleanliness, according to a spokesperson for the Irish Business Against Litter group.
It comes as the latest survey by IBAL found an overall improvement in litter levels nationwide, but no improvement in Dublin city centre which was ranked 39th of the 40 areas surveyed and graded as littered.
Litter levels in more than 500 locations across 40 urban areas are monitored for the annual survey.
The number of sites deemed clean across the country is up, while no town was judged to be either a litter blackspot or heavily littered.
Naas in Co Kildare was cleanest of the 40 towns and cities in the survey. It was followed, in order, by Monaghan town; Blanchardstown in Dublin; Kilkenny city; Ennis, Co Clare; Castlebar, Co Mayo and Nenagh in Co Tipperary.
Cork’s northside, followed by Ballymun, Dublin’s north inner city, Dublin city centre and Ballybane in Galway city and were deemed littered and came bottom in the list.
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Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, IBAL spokesperson Conor Horgan said the survey showed the cleanest towns were getting even cleaner.
Mr Horgan highlighted the result for Blanchardstown in Dublin, which he said demonstrated a remarkable achievement.
However in the case of Dublin city centre, he said that it stood out for a lack of improvement which was disappointing.
“Dublin’s city centre seems to be in reverse – this is the fourth study in a row where we’ve seen no improvement in our city centre.
“We can’t call our country clean if our capital city is dirty,” he added.
Deposit Return Scheme impacting litter levels – IBAL
The Deposit Return scheme has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of cans and bottles thrown onto streets and an overall improvement in litter levels nationwide, according to IBAL.
However, the survey found plastic bottles are still the third most prevalent form of litter.
The alliance is expecting further improvement as people become more accustomed to the scheme.
So far the scheme has resulted in almost 30% fewer cans and 20% fewer plastic bottles littering streets, according to the survey.
Further reductions are expected as legacy non-returnable items are flushed out of the system in the months ahead and people become more accustomed to the scheme.
IBAL said these initial results indicate that if there is a monetary incentive to do the right thing, people will respond, and the same logic applies to a coffee cup levy.
It said tackling specific litter types with tailored measures is the most effective way of ridding our streets of litter.
The study, conducted by An Taisce on behalf of IBAL, showed a healthy rise in towns reaching the upper tier of cleanliness – ‘Cleaner than European Norms’ – and a 35% fall in the number of towns branded ‘littered’.
City areas fare well overall
Overall, city areas fared well compared to last year. There were notable improvements in Limerick city, Mahon in Cork, Tallaght, and the north Dublin inner city.
Limerick South (Galvone) recorded its best ever result.
For Dublin city however, which came second last in the list, this was the fourth year in a row litter has got worse.
Among the blackspots encountered by An Taisce inspectors were a basement in Lamb Alley in Dublin which featured “vast quantities of alcohol cans, broken windows, and all manner of food litter”.
Balbutcher Lane in Ballymun was littered with dumped items including street cones, car parts, and carpets.
Meanwhile, Fairfield Meadows on Cork’s northside was “subject to monumental levels of dumping” according to the survey.
Coffee cups, while down, were present in one of every five sites surveyed nationwide.
Cigarette butt litter remains stubbornly high as was present at 31% of the more than 500 sites surveyed.
The Deposit Return Scheme does not include beer bottles, which were found in 10% of sites.
“Is there a good reason why we cannot go further and make these bottles returnable also?” asked Conor Horgan of Irish Business Against Litter.
He said the deposit scheme holds a lot of promise and ultimately IBAL would like to see cans and bottes disappear entirely from our streets.
On chewing gum litter, he said that IBAL for years had called for degradable gum, but have not seen any real impetus brought in to bring it to the market.
In other industries pressure has been put on manufacturers to adapt and make products more environmentally friendly, he said, but there doesn’t seem to be any pressure on gum manufacturers to do the same.
“Typically, gum remains on our streets for decades and builds and builds. Even if you don’t see it, it’s very unseemly and we think something should be done about it,” Mr Horgan said.
The 2024 IBAL Anti-Litter League 1st round results
1 Naas – Cleaner than European Norms
2 Monaghan – Cleaner than European Norms
3 Blanchardstown, Dublin – Cleaner than European Norms
4 Kilkenny – Cleaner than European Norms
5 Ennis – Cleaner than European Norms
6 Castlebar – Cleaner than European Norms
7 Nenagh – Cleaner than European Norms
8 Sligo – Cleaner than European Norms
9 Mallow – Cleaner than European Norms
10 Killarney – Cleaner than European Norms
11 Ballybeg, Waterford – Cleaner than European Norms
12 Waterford city – Cleaner than European Norms
13 Dublin Airport environs – Cleaner than European Norms
14 Maynooth – Cleaner than European Norms
15 Mullingar – Clean to European Norms
16 Arklow – Clean to European Norms
17 Portlaoise – Clean to European Norms
18 Carlow – Clean to European Norms
19 Tullamore – Clean to European Norms
20 Drogheda – Clean to European Norms
21 Galway city centre – Clean to European Norms
22 Wexford – Clean to European Norms
23 Cavan – Clean to European Norms
24 Cork city – Centre Moderately littered
25 Tralee – Moderately littered
26 Athlone – Moderately littered
27 Buncrana – Moderately littered
28 Tallaght – Moderately littered
29 Limerick south – Moderately littered
30 Dundalk – Moderately littered
31 Navan – Moderately littered
32 Mahon, cork city – Moderately littered
33 Limerick city centre – Moderately littered
34 Roscommon – Moderately littered
35 Longford – Moderately littered
36 Cork northside – Littered
37 Ballymun – Littered
38 Dublin north inner city – Littered
39 Dublin city centre – Littered
40 Galway inner city, Ballybane – Littered
