Mullingar 11th in IBAL table, despite cans in the canal

The first nationwide litter survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) since the Covid-19 crisis shows a clean sweep for midlands towns, with Athlone in second, Portlaoise in fouth, Mullingar in 11th and Tullamore in 14th in the ranking of 40 areas across the country, and all deemed ‘clean’.

Mullingar was deemed to be “clean to European norms” and the An Taisce report for the town stated: A successful return to the IBAL Litter League for Mullingar, with seven top ranking sites, among them St Oliver Plunkett Street, Cathedral Square and Joe Dolan Square / Market House – the latter was particularly freshly presented and excellent with regard to litter. By far the most heavily littered site surveyed in Mullingar was the Canal – heavy levels of cans (mainly alcohol related) had accumulated in the water.”

There was a dramatic fall in the number of clean towns and cities, to its lowest level since 2007. Kilkenny was again judged best of the surveyed, with ‘seriously littered’ Dublin North Inner City at the foot of the table. The survey showed PPE litter to be widespread and a rise in the prevalence of cans and glass bottles.

The Taisce report for Athlone stated: “Athlone is back among the cleanest towns in Ireland after this superb result, with nine out of the ten sites surveyed getting the top litter grade, and some deserving a special mention – the Recycle Facility at Gracepark was one of the freshest and cleanest facilities – so often this is not the case throughout the rest of the country.

“The Strand – Shannon Bank was good with regard to litter, despite plenty of people in the immediate area; there was a complete absence of litter at Devinish Castle ruins and the grass surrounding it had recently been cut.”

Covid crisis

An Taisce, who carried out the survey, deemed 23 towns to be ‘clean’, a fall of over 20% on last year.

The number of towns reaching the highest cleanliness level – Cleaner than European Norms – dropped by a quarter to nine, Kilkenny edging out Athlone, Killarney and Portlaoise at the top of the rankings.

While no area was branded a litter blackspot, North Inner City Dublin was once again seriously littered, as was Galvone in Limerick City, which fell back from last year.

“The rise in litter levels this year is across the board,” says IBAL’s Conor Horgan.

“The Covid crisis has seen more dumping, more outdoor socialising, especially drinking, and PPE litter, but less cleaning by local authorities and less activity by volunteers like Tidy Towns – a perfect storm, in many ways, which has brought us to the worst position we’ve been in over 10 years.”

In the fight against Covid-19, local authorities have curtailed cleaning schedules and diverted resources to other areas.

At the same time, households have been generating more litter during lockdown and there has been a visible increase in drinking outdoors as pubs are closed, a fact borne out by the rise in bottles and cans found by the An Taisce inspectors, Galway City being one example.

However, there was a reduction in cigarette butts, perhaps also a reflection of pubs and offices being closed. Half of all recycle facilities surveyed were heavily littered, another likely consequence of the Covid crisis.

PPE litter was prevalent across the country, with masks five times as common as gloves.

“Understandably, people are reluctant to pick up these items for fear of contracting Covid, so they tend to stay on the ground. We need to see a rapid rise in the use of reusable masks,” says Conor Horgan.

The number of very bad sites within towns explained the overall deterioration in cleanliness. “It is a source of particular frustration that those sites which we had identified last year as heavily littered were – for the most part – not cleaned up in the interim.”

Of 61 sites described as either heavily littered or blackspots in 2019, fewer than 40% were clean in this latest survey.

“We’ve been saying for years that the most immediate way to improve a town or city is to focus on the bad areas – clearly this is not being done.”

“In these exceptional times, when council resources are stretched, civic responsibility is called for more than ever,” says Mr Horgan.

“The mantra ‘we’re all in this together’ extends to the proper disposal of waste, not least waste that is prone to contamination. With fewer people available or willing to pick up litter, the message has to be ‘don’t litter in the first place’.”