"Complete absence of litter" in Tullamore Town Square

The newly-revamped Square in Tullamore was described as a “beautifully laid out town centre environment” in the first post-pandemic survey conducted by the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) group which ranks the town at number 12 out of the 40 towns surveyed.

While Tullamore was found to be “clean to European norms” the judges singled out the Bring Centre in the Council Car Park on the Daingean Road as being one of the most heavily littered areas of the town. “It wasn’t just casually littered but subject to significant dumping of black sacks to the front of the units and miscellaneous items to the rear” said the IBAL report.

Overall, towns across the Midlands fared well in the survey, with Portlaaoise taking the number one spot as “Cleaner than European norms” and Athlone at number 15 and retaining its status as “Clean to European norms.

This is the the 19th year of the IBAL Anti-Litter League, which 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.

The survey painted a bleak pictures for cities, which were once again found to have rapidly deteriorating litter levels. “Litter levels have worsened to a level we have not seen in the past ten years. Now that we have emerged from lockdown, we cannot use it as an excuse for high levels of litter” said Conor Horgan from IBAL.

There was also a continued rise in Covid-related litter, with the survey finding a near-30% increase in the prevalence of PPE masks on our streets and an increase in alcohol-related litter such as cans and bottles

. “The need for PPE has not abated – unfortunately we’re still using disposable masks, we’re still dropping them at an alarming rate and they are still not being picked up,“ says Conor Horgan. “We are consuming more outdoors and this is translating into more food- and drink-related litter.” Despite this, the survey showed a 20% drop in coffee cup litter. There was also a steep fall-off in cigarette butts.

IBAL was once again critical of the failure of local authorities to address sites which they have previously highlighted as heavily littered, especially in urban areas. Of the 103 such sites exposed last year, fewer than half have been cleaned up in 2021.