Railway station and Market Square get 'A' grade in IBAL report

The latest nationwide survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter shows Mullingar, Athlone, Portlaoise and Tullamore are all clean and occupying mid-table positions in the ranking of 40 towns and cities.

Mullingar was cleanest in 17th, but lost its top 10 spot from last year. Athlone occupied 22nd place on the table.

In their comments on their findings on Mullingar, An Taisce, acting for IBAL, remarked that there was a “slight fall” in cleanliness in Mullingar.

According to the report, by far the most heavily littered site surveyed in Mullingar was the Recycle Facility (town centre car park) – much of the litter associated with it was to the rear and ‘long-lie’, indicating a lack of thorough cleaning for some time.

There was considerable praise for the standard of maintenance of both the exterior and interior of Mullingar railway station – both aspects of which got an ‘A’ grade, as did the Market House and also the Ballymore, Ballymahon and Castlepollard approach roads.

Commenting on the train station, the report said that from an external perspective, this “olde” style station looked very well with lovely brickwork and paving.

“There were some ‘works’ taking place and clearly a careful eye is kept on this space as there was no litter directly associated with the works,” the report said, going on to comment that the interior was “exceptionally freshly presented” and very well served by litter bins.

“Station signage, seating, litter bins etc were all in very good order. It was spotless throughout,” the report stated.

Considerable praise was extended to the Market House and Square: “The built environment was looking very well with attractive paving/brick work. Area was enhanced by large planter boxes, seating, sculpture – there was a complete absence of litter,” the adjudicators noted.

The R390 (Ballymore Road) approach was “clean and freshly presented” with road surface, markings and signage in good order and no visible litter issues; on the Castlepollard approach road, “apart from some minor food related items at the bus stop area”, the route created a positive first impression of Mullingar; and on the R392 Ballymahon approach road, all appeared in good order including the newly laid asphalt and the fact that there were no signs of litter.

“Grass had been mown to one side and ‘more natural’ to the other side.”

The Canal Bank was awarded a B grade. “There was some improvement at this site, formerly a heavily littered one in previous IBAL surveys. The very heavy levels were no longer apparent on this visit,” the report stated.

This time around the most obvious items were sweet papers, mineral cans and bottles, mostly trapped in the reeds and at the water’s edge.

“In order to prevent a further build-up, perhaps the installation of some litter awareness notices might help?” the report commented.

Oliver Plunkett Street also received a B grade. On the positive aspects, the adjudicators stated: “Attractive paving and substantial planter boxes certainly add to the overall streetscape.”

However, they continued, it appeared that while the paving was freshly presented, most of the litter ended up at the kerb, beside the parked cars with “heavy” levels of cigarette butts visible, with lower levels of fast-food wrappers and sweet wrappers and other smaller items. “With a little extra care and attention, this could be a top-ranking site,” the report added.

Also in receipt of a B grade was the Fairgreen Centre: “The car park of this shopping centre was freshly presented with surface and markings in good order. Any litter present was to be found around the perimeter or on the grass. Most obvious items were cigarette butts, sweet papers and fast-food wrappers.”

The only area awarded a C grade was the recycling facility at a town centre car park: “This was by far the most heavily littered site surveyed in Mullingar. The signage associated with the usage of the facility was freshly presented, large, clear and legible. The bin units were fine and there was minimal litter to the front. However, the area to the rear of the units was heavily littered, much of it seemingly ‘long-lie’, indicating a lack of thorough cleaning for quite some time. Many of the items here were not ‘recyclable’ in terms of the bin units provided at this facility.”

PPE disappearing, vapes on the rise

Nationally, the survey showed that PPE litter has not disappeared entirely, and masks were found in 7% of sites. There was a slight drop in the prevalence of alcohol cans and bottles, but coffee cups were present in 20% of sites, which, IBAL maintains, backs up the need for a coffee cup levy. There was an increase in cigarette butt litter.

Vaping devices were included as a litter type for the first time and were evident in 6% of sites. “The impact of disposable vapes is twofold,” say Conor Horgan of IBAL.

“Not only are they single-use plastic, but the lithium battery within them is an especially toxic form of litter.

“Unfortunately, as is our experience with coffee cups, consumers tend to opt for the convenience of the disposable product. In striving for a circular economy, the case for banning them is a strong one.”