Navan ranked 25th out of 40 towns in litter survey
Navan has improved its standing in the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) League moving up three places since the last survey in June.
The latest survey from IBAL found Navan to be 'Clean to European Norms' finishing in 25th place in the survey of 40 towns around the country.
June 2023 survey results revealed that Navan dropped from number 21 to 28 on the list of 40 towns surveyed. While still retaining its 'clean' status, Navan was edging closer to becoming part of the 'moderately littered' category, however the town has clawed back its place mid table.
The survey also found that the first time since surveys began 20 years ago, last year no area was deemed ‘seriously littered’. Maynooth was top of the rankings of 40 towns and cities nationwide, with Dublin’s North Inner City at the foot of the table. IBAL says the impending Deposit Return Scheme will improve cleanliness levels further but is calling for action on coffee cups.
While litter levels rose slightly overall, over 60% of towns surveyed were deemed clean in 2023, with Maynooth edging out Mallow and much improved Sligo to take the title of cleanest town.
Waterford was again our cleanest city, ahead of Galway. These were the only cities to be judged ‘clean’, with Cork City Centre improving to ‘moderately littered’ but Dublin falling to ‘littered’, alongside Limerick. Dublin North Inner City occupied last place in the table but its ‘littered’ status was an improvement on past years.
A surprise finding of the IBAL study was the rise in coffee cup litter, which is now close to peak-Covid levels. Coffee cups were found at over 30% of the 500+ sites surveyed.
Mayor of Navan Cllr Eddie Fennessy says it is an issue had needs to be tackled.
"Coffee cups and discarded vapes are the most common forms of litter blighting our towns and cities today unfortunately," said Fennessy.
"We need to take direction from other towns if we are to erradicate such litter problems," he added.
"Last year, Killarney introduced a ban on single use cups which is working really well for the town. A similar scheme that included vapes might worth looking at for Navan."
"I commend the work carried out by the council's outdoor staff. They did a great job again last year and I'd like to thank them for their effort.
IBAL said it welcomes the introduction next month of the Deposit Return Scheme as a potential game-changer in the fight against litter, much as the plastic bag levy was.
The scheme will see consumers pay a deposit of 15 cent on cans and up to 25 cent on plastic bottles, refundable on their return.
“This latest survey shows these items to be present in just under half of the hundreds of sites we surveyed," said a spokesperson for IBAL.
"This scheme will remove a large portion of this litter and bring about a significantly cleaner environment in 2024. While there may be some inconvenience for consumers, the prize is a very real, and a very immediate one.”
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.