Improving fortunes for Kerry in the IBAL anti-litter league

KILLARNEY is in eighth place while Tralee is in 33rd place in the first round results of The Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) league table. The results mean Killarney has improved three places on last year’s 12th position, while Tralee will welcome news of its return to the list having been omitted from the 2016 rankings over what IBAL said was its policy of ‘rotation’ to include more towns.

The survey criteria classified Killarney as ‘cleaner than European norms’, while Tralee was described as ‘moderately littered’. Meanwhile in a separate strand to the survey, 85 per cent of 32 tourist sites surveyed nationally were deemed clean, including Muckross House in Killarney.

Other areas in Killarney to achieve a ‘Grade A’ rating were College Street, Lewis Road, Main Street, New Street - despite the presence of cigarette butts - and the jarvey waiting area and toilets. However, a derelict site on the town centre end of Park Road received a ‘Grace C’ rating and was described as ‘quite a poor site in an otherwise well-presented and maintained commercial park’, with judges highlighting a serious issue with dumping on the site.

In Tralee, judges praised the Ashe Memorial Hall and Tralee Town Park and Rose Garden but highlighted moderately littered areas, stating that the derelict site at Godfrey Place was littered most.

Overall, 90 per cent of rural towns surveyed nationwide were deemed clean; however, IBAL said ‘a lack of community involvement’ explained why certain disadvantaged urban areas continue to be plagued by litter despite improvements elsewhere.

In its ‘Litter Pollution Report 2016’, Kerry County Council said 24 tonnes of fly-tipping was collected in Kerry in 2016 - six tonnes less than the 2015 figure of 30 tonnes. Director of Services, John Breen credited this reduction to a combination of activation measures between the local authority and community groups, paying tribute to the Tidy Towns groups and volunteers.