The Irish Business Against Litter league has published it’s first report for 2024 – 40 locations around the country were surveyed in late 2023.
Clonmel is the only Tipperary location included in the survey and the town ranked 6th best of locations surveyed.
Maynooth emerged as the cleanest. The top eleven locations were found to be cleaner than European norms.
Dublin inner city ranked 40th with Dublin city centre 37 and Limerick city 38th. Waterford is judged to be the cleanest city, ahead of Galway.
The County Tipperary Chamber is recognising Clonmel’s achievement in securing the 6th position out of 40 urban centres in the IBAL Anti-Litter League survey, and says the recognition is a testament to the unwavering commitment and diligent efforts of the local tidy town committee , businesses, Clonmel Town Team and the Clonmel Borough District.
Michelle Aylward, CEO of the County Tipperary says the achievement is “not only a point of pride but also a motivating force that drives us to continue our efforts in enhancing Clonmel’s environmental and aesthetic appeal.
We are inspired to uphold these high standards and foster an ethos of community engagement and environmental responsibility across all of County Tipperary.’
For the first time since surveys began 20 years ago, last year no area was deemed ‘seriously littered’.
IBAL says the impending Deposit Return Scheme will improve cleanliness levels further but is calling for action on coffee cups. Coffee cups were found at over 30% of the 500+ sites surveyed.
The scheme will see consumers pay a deposit of 15 cents on cans and up to 25 cents on plastic bottles, refundable on their return.
There was another significant rise in the prevalence of disposable vapes, highlighted previously as an emerging source of litter. These were found in more than 10% of all sites covered.
An Taisce, who carry out the surveys on behalf of IBAL, commended Maynooth on attaining “a level of cleanliness over the course of 2023 which we have not encountered in two decades of surveying.
Set up in 1996, Irish Business Against Litter is an alliance of companies sharing a belief that continued economic prosperity – notably in the areas of tourism, food and direct foreign investment – is contingent on a clean, litter-free environment.
