Navan drops down the littering league
The final litter survey of 2019 by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) has shown both Drogheda and Navan failing to maintain their strong showing of the previous year. The Louth town, previously inside the top ten, is now ‘moderately littered’ in 31st position in the ranking of 40 towns and cities. Meanwhile, Navan has also slipped to 17th spot, down from 14th in 2018 but is deemed ‘Clean’. The survey showed overall litter levels in Ireland’s towns were up on a year ago.
The report for Navan stated: “Navan has come a long way since the early days of the IBAL Anti-Litter League. This time around there were six top ranking sites with the remainder moderately littered i.e. no seriously littered or litter blackspots sites. Pollboy Bridge and Environs was a beautifully landscaped environment which has been very well maintained and was excellent with regard to litter. The provision of cigarette butt units could make a big difference at Navan Shopping Centre entrance and Abbey Road. Care needs to be taken at the Recycle Facility to ensure that there isn’t a further build-up of items to the rear of the units. Other top ranking sites included the environs of Treasury Buildings, approach road from Trim and Flower Hill Road.”
The An Taisce report for Drogheda stated: “With six top ranking sites you would expect Drogheda to score reasonably well. However, the presence of both a seriously littered and litter blackspot very much brings down the town’s overall grade. The poor sites didn’t get into that state overnight but have clearly suffered long-term abuse and neglect. By far the worst site surveyed was the derelict / boarded up property at West Gate House – this litter blackspot has been used as a dumping ground. The recycle facility has been very poorly maintained and lacks thoroughly cleaning. The Train Station (Interior and Exterior) presented well and was very good with regard to litter. The Memorial to John Philip Holland (and immediate environs) was an excellent environment in terms of both presentation, maintenance and litter.”
Kilkenny topped the IBAL litter rankings for a record 4th time, having last won in 2014. It finished ahead of Killarney, which was 3rd in 2018, and Swords at the top of the table. In all, 21 of the 27 towns inspected were deemed clean, a great result but down on previous years. Galway edged out Waterford to claim cleanest city as it enters its year as European City of Culture. The city areas of Galvone in Limerick, Ballymun in Dublin and Cork Northside were ‘littered’, with Dublin North Inner City at the foot of the rankings.
The past decade has brought a 13% reduction in litter levels in our city centres, while litter in towns has remained constant over the same period. “We’ve seen the fruits of the greater attention given to keeping our city centres clean,” explains Conor Horgan of IBAL, “to the point where they are now almost as clean as our towns. In 2019, for the first time, all were deemed clean.” IBAL has been surveying disadvantaged city areas over the past 5 years but has seen little reduction in litter over the period.