Athlone climbs into Top 5 in latest anti-litter survey

Tidy Towns and environmental groups in Athlone are celebrating the news today (Monday) that Athlone has climbed into the top 5 in the latest survey conducted by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).

The survey shows Athlone rising to the 4th spot in the rankings, with Mullingar also improving to 16th position, but Portlaoise fell from 2nd place in the last IBAL survey to 26th this time round..

The study reveals PPE litter is on the decrease, but the prevalence of coffee cups warrants action such as a levy, according to IBAL.

The IBAL survey found Athlone to be ‘cleaner than European norms’ and described the performance of the town as “superb and an improvement on last year. “ Almost all of the sites surveyed received the top litter grade, with the train station, both inside and out, and Count John McCormack Square being singled out for particular mention.

County John McCormack Square was “a particularly attractively presented environment, with a complete absence of litter throughout” according to the report.

The latest survey sees the performance of Athlone improving considerably compared to the end-of-year survey for 2021, which was published in January of this year, and saw Athlone coming in at number 18 out of the 30 towns and cities surveyed. The town was deemed to be ‘clean to European norms’ in that survey, but has now gone one step further by being declared as ‘cleaner than European norms.’

Two-thirds of the 40 towns and cities surveyed were found to be clean, among them Naas, which retained its position at the top of the rankings, ahead of Letterkenny and Cavan.

Overall litter levels showed a decrease on last year, with a dramatic fall of 50% in the number of sites within towns deemed to be ‘litter blackspots’.

The prevalence of PPE masks fell sharply compared to the previous survey, present in 17% of sites examined, compared to 32% in 2021. There was also a fall-off in alcohol-related litter, which contributed to an improvement in the state of public parks, 80% of which were clean. Recycle centres were also cleaner. However, coffee cup litter remained high, evident in one quarter of all sites surveyed.

“The findings bear out the need for action on coffee cups,” contends IBAL spokesperson, Conor Horgan “we must dis-incentivise the use of paper cups – even compostable or recyclable ones – as too many of them are ending up on the ground. In the light of our survey, the Government move towards a levy makes a lot of sense.”

The survey suggests that Ireland is seeing a return to normality post-Covid. “With cleaning schedules back to normal, less PPE litter and less alcohol consumption outdoors, litter levels have fallen. However, despite improvements, the centres of our main cities are still littered at a time when we are welcoming our peak tourist numbers. There is a price to be paid for that,” comments Mr Horgan.

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.

As part of the IBAL Anti-Litter League, An Taisce monitors towns independently and in accordance with international grading standards.