Waterford City returns to Top 10 in litter survey

Waterford has regained its place as the cleanest city in Ireland.

That's according to Irish Business Against Litter who praised Waterford Council for clearing up sites that were highlighted previously as heavily littered.

Ballybeg also improved from 'moderately littered' to 'clean'.

However, overall the annual survey returned with worst results in over a decade -city centre areas in Limerick, Galway and Dublin have all lost their "clean" rating

IBAL says its inspectors have noticed more litter from outdoor drinking and people dropping disposable masks and gloves.

Kilkenny was again judged best of the surveyed, with 'seriously littered' Dublin North Inner City at the foot of the table.

The first nationwide litter survey since the Covid-19 crisis shows a dramatic fall in the number of towns and cities deemed to be ‘clean’, to its lowest level since 2007. Find your town here.https://t.co/LSQt6fx39z#litter #litterleague #ibal

— Irish Business Against Litter (@IrishLitter) October 11, 2020

"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."

PPE litter was prevalent across the country, with masks 5 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, among them several sites in Waterford. "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 councils' resources are stretched, civic responsibility is called for more than ever," says Conor 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.'"

The Taisce report for Waterford City stated:
The local authority in Waterford deserves particular credit for having cleaned up sites which were highlighted previously as heavily littered. Among the top-ranking sites, Plunkett Train Station wasn't just a functional facility but a welcoming one with historical notices and colourful planting immediately visible for any arriving visitors; Clearly the Bus Station takes littering very seriously, as evidenced by the abundant 'anti-litter notices' throughout a small area - it was certainly a very clean site. Bolton Street Car Park was excellent, with some artistic visitor information (quite unusual for a city-centre car park); the grounds of Waterford Court House were beautifully presented and maintained - excellent with regard to litter; Medieval Quarter continues to be an exceptionally well presented and maintained area which was spotless throughout. The poorer ranking sites in Waterford City didn't get into this state overnight, most notably a site on Michael Street, behind red gates and a Miscellaneous site on R683 heading towards Ardkeen Roundabout - the latter, in particular, presents very poorly and is liable to further build ups if not addressed. The Bring Centre at Glen Car Park wasn't just casually littered but items had been dumped to the front and rear of the recycling units.

The Taisce report for Ballybeg stated:
Well done to Ballybeg, one of the few areas to improve on 2019, with seven out of the ten sites surveyed getting the top litter grade. Ballybeg Park Playground was particularly fresh in appearance and excellent with regard to litter. The residential areas of Glencurra and Meadowbank were also very much deserving of the top litter grade. The one blot on the landscape in Ballybeg was the common land by St. Saviours - this wasn't just a littered site but subject to dumping e.g. household furniture and other debris. This problem area has been highlighted in previous IBAL litter surveys - where does responsibility for this lie?

2020 IBAL ANTI-LITTER LEAGUE – ROUND 1