Athlone falls in litter rankings

For the third successive year, Athlone has fallen in the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) rankings.

Today, business group IBAL released its final standings for 2024, which found Athlone to be Clean to European Norms at 25th of 40 towns.

Athlone was ranked at number 22 in the survey in 2023 and 16th in the final survey of 2022.

However, this year's final 25th place ranking is one place better than the 26th position in the mid-year survey released last summer, at which point Athlone was deemed moderately littered.

The An Taisce report for Athlone stated: "Five of the sites surveyed in Athlone got the top litter grade – these included the residential area of Talbot Avenue, Ranelagh Way Shannon Banks Nature Trail and Athlone Poets on Athlone Canal (a wonderful celebration of local poets in a waterside environment). R446 / Dublin Rod was let down by a derelict site beside Real Deal Barber – this was heavily littered and took away from other premises which were well presented and in good order.”

Elsewhere in the midlands, Tullamore finished 9th and was deemed Cleaner than European Norms, while, Mullingar and Portlaoise were all deemed clean to European norms, at tied 14th and 19th respectively.

Nationally, a key finding of the survey was that a fall in plastic bottles and cans on our streets, brought about by the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), was not enough to reduce overall litter levels in Ireland last year.

Overall litter levels were on a par with 12 months ago. In all, 60% of the towns and cities surveyed were deemed ‘clean’.

On a positive note, 2024 saw a further fall in the number of sites within cities and towns that were deemed ‘litter blackspots’, which suggests that local authorities were generally more effective in tackling urban dumping and in addressing sites that IBAL had previously highlighted.

The survey also revealed a near-50% fall in the prevalence of plastic bottles and cans in the over 500 sites monitored since the Deposit Return Scheme was introduced last year.

“We are definitely seeing cans and bottles disappear from our streets, which is very welcome – not only are they unsightly, but the bottles contribute to the very real problem of plastic pollution. However, it is clear from our survey that people continue to discard a wide range of litter types with flagrant disregard for their surroundings,” says Conor Horgan. Sweet wrappers and fast-food wrappers were the most common litter types, ahead of plastic bags and coffee cups, which were present in over 20% of sites.

“The DRS was one of a number of structural measures broached by the last government as part of its environmental agenda, with knock-on benefits in terms of litter. A ban on disposable vapes and a coffee cup levy were others.

“The need for such measures is evident in the stubbornly low penetration levels of refillable coffee cups and the proliferation of highly damaging vape litter, which cannot be recycled. If we are to see sustainable improvement nationwide, it is important that the incoming regime maintain the momentum on anti-litter legislation.”

Killarney, which outlawed disposable coffee cups in 2023, was one of the most improved towns last year, rising from 14th to 4th in the rankings. “Given the evident success of this initiative in Killarney, it is perplexing why other towns have not yet followed suit,” commented Conor Horgan.