Waterford has lost its crown as Ireland's cleanest city in the latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey.
In January 2024, Waterford emerged as the cleanest city in the survey of 40 towns and cities but has now been overtaken by Galway.
The Waterford City-Ballybeg area is rated ‘Cleaner to European Norms’ and is in 12th position. Galway City Centre occupies 11th spot.
Waterford City Centre is rated ‘Clean to European Norms’ in 16th position.
The An Taisce report for Waterford City stated:
"Waterford City was surveyed in December and the city centre was full of ‘Waterford Winterval European City of Christmas 2024’ displays/signage throughout. While Vulcan Street was heavily littered, some heavily littered sites in previous IBAL surveys have improved e.g. the road leading to/from Waterford Dog Pound was very much deserving of the top litter grade this time around."
The reported added: "Many of the Waterford sites are consistently high ranking e.g. Barronstrand/Broad Street, Medieval Quarter, Bus Eireann Bus Station and People’s Park – well done to all concerned. There was great use of QR codes in a few different ways – pictures of sites of historical interest along the riverwalk were accompanied by QR codes, as were wooden sculpture features (e.g. Arundel Square). "
The An Taisce report for Waterford City-Ballybeg stated:
"An excellent result for Ballybeg – even the Ballybeg Stores and Environs site got the top litter grade this time around. Others included the residential area of Ardmore Terrace (previously heavily littered), the Deposit Return Scheme in Tesco, St. Saviours GAA and BRILL Family Resource Centre – the latter looked like a colourful and welcoming environment. Food related litter brought down the grade at the residential area of Clonard Park and Ballybeg Playground/Park. By far the most heavily littered site was the Ballybeg Bring Centre at Tesco – as well as items to the rear of the recycle units, a black bag of items had been abandoned at the base of the clothing bank. "
Overall, litter levels were on a par with 12 months ago. In all, 60 per cent of the towns and cities surveyed were deemed ‘clean’.
2024 saw a further fall in the number of sites within cities and towns that were deemed ‘litter blackspots’.
The survey also revealed a near fifty per cent fall in the prevalence of plastic bottles and cans in the 500+ sites monitored since the Deposit Return Scheme was introduced last year.
Killarney, which outlawed disposable coffee cups in 2023, was one of the most improved towns last year, rising from 14th to 4th in the rankings.
Naas in County Kildare is rated as Ireland's cleanest town.
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