Council to be commended on litter move

Athlone Town Council must be commended this week on its move to stamp out litter in the wake of Athlone being labelled the dirtiest town in Ireland by the Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL) organisation recently. The council has reminded businesses locally of their obligations under the Litter Pollution Act 1997-2003 to keep the area outside their premises free from litter. And in a further bid to rid the streets of the town of litter and improve its standing in the next litter league, a number of new and much larger litter bins have been spotted around town, including one at the pedestrian crossing in Irishtown. While we can all be quick to criticise the council and other bodies when we receive a poor rating in litter surveys, it"s important that we remember that we all have our part to play in keeping Athlone clean and tidy. But the council is leading the way in reminding businesses of their obligations and must be congratulated on doing so. However, this sort of gesture is not merely enough. The council must follow through on and ensure that there is an increased presence from litter wardens on the street and enforcement of the laws where necessary to ensure that our town is never again on the litter blackspot list. With the recent spell of good weather many people took the opportunity to spend their lunch hour in Burgess Park or along The Strand, taking in one of Athlone"s more scenic views. Unfortunately, it couldn"t go unnoticed that the litter bins were often full very quickly after lunch hour and while the more conscientious among us brought their rubbish back to their workplace to dispose of in a proper fashion, it is circumstances like this that results in more litter being illegally dumped. And while full bins are not an excuse for litterbugs, they are not really excusable either and should be regularly emptied to ensure people have the facilities to dispose of their litter. So while Athlone Town Council is leading the way with its litter letter and the installation of new bins, it must also play its own part in ensuring these bins are emptied at regular intervals to avoid people using the streets as litter bins when the bins are full. But with the council playing its part and businesses, hopefully, reminded of their obligations, it"s time that each citizen of the town played their own part too. The Tidy Towns committee, under the stewardship of chairman John Butler, has made huge strides in recent years in making Athlone a cleaner town, holding regular clean-ups in various areas of the town and planting colourful plants to show Athlone in its best light. As a town we should embrace this and help out in anyway we can by ensuring we don"t litter ourselves and keeping our housing estates, community areas and businesses clean to ensure that Athlone can never again be referred to as a "dirty old town".