Not even HALF of our towns considered clean
Facemasks and disposable cups are contributing to rising rubbish
FEWER than half of Irish towns and cities are considered clean – and the discarding of Covid-19 masks are to blame, according to a new report.
Ireland has seen the worst litter levels since 2007, which has been driven by a sharp increase in masks and disposable coffee cups.
Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) said councils are failing to clean up heavily littered areas, with Kilkenny the best city and the Ballymun area in Dublin considered ‘seriously littered’.
The anti-litter business group today released its second litter survey since the outbreak of Covid-19, showing a continued rise in rubbish levels across the country.
Litter levels rose in 24 out of 37 towns and cities inspected by An Taisce, The National Trust for Ireland, at the end of 2020 and only 17 were judged to be clean.
In the last three years the number of areas it deemed clean has fallen from 80%
‘A shameful disregard for the environment’
to 65%. Coffee cups and PPE-related litter, primarily masks, were among the most prevalent types of litter found, suggesting outdoor drinking continued into winter.
The group said there was a rise in the number of blackspots – heavily littered areas within towns and cities.
It urged local authorities to address sites that had been highlighted in previous surveys as heavily littered and criticised a failure to act.
Only 11% of sites it marked as blackspots in previous surveys had been cleaned up and more than a quarter had worsened.
IBAL said among the worst sites were Dry Dock in Dublin’s IFSC and Balbutcher Lane in Ballymun, where ‘there was litter everywhere’.
It said civic-minded people’s reluctance to pick up litter during the pandemic could turn into a long-term habit and harm the country’s hard-won cleanliness.
A spokesman for An Taisce said: ‘There is surely a lesson in this result for other towns – while the majority of towns have deteriorated during Covid, Kilkenny has been maintained in pristine condition.’
IBAL’s Conor Horgan said: ‘Covid is clearly a factor here, but we should never accept litter as inevitable.
‘It comes down to people disposing of their waste without regard for their surroundings or their fellow citizens and it is entirely unnecessary.
‘While council workers have not been on the streets as much as normal, the general public has been spending more time than ever outdoors.
‘Ironically, too many of them are showing a shameful disregard for the environment they are enjoying.
He added: ‘Eight months into the pandemic, we would have hoped people would have moved to reusable masks with a resulting fall in mask-related litter. In fact, we are seeing more and more of them ending up on our streets.
‘While people have certainly become more attuned to their natural surroundings and more conscious of how litter can spoil those surroundings, this is offset by an understandable unwillingness to pick up waste for fear of contamination.’ Mr Horgan said: ‘As the pandemic endures, and with it the sensitivity around touching items, people may simply get out of the habit of picking up other people’s litter. We risk losing a civic behaviour which is vital in keeping our country clean.’
Kilkenny topped IBAL’s rankings for 2020 for the fifth time. Ballymun and Dublin’s North Inner City were both seriously littered.
Four of the towns and cities surveyed – Kilkenny, Killarney, Ennis and Tullamore – were ranked ‘cleaner than European norms’.
‘We risk losing vital civic behaviour’