Waterford is Ireland's cleanest city once again
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Waterford city has once again been ranked as the cleanest city in Ireland.
The latest litter survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) shows Waterford City is “cleaner than European norms”, rising from 6th to 4th in the overall ranking of 40 Irish cities and towns. Dungarvan, meanwhile, is ranked ‘clean’ in 11th position.
In the city, a few sites which had been heavily littered previously were deserving of the top litter grade this time around. These sites included the former Woodpecker site, Dunmore Road and the Bring Bank at Jenkins/Little Patrick Street.
Some top ranking sites were highlighted for special mention in the report, including the residential area of May Park Village, Waterford Cultural Quarter, the main shopping area of Broad Street/Barronstrand and Waterford Nature Park/Kilbarry Park.
Extra care needs to be taken at Apple Market Car Park, the report states. The Bring Centre at Tesco, Ardkeen was also lightly littered to the front, but it was the area to the rear which really brought down the overall litter grade.
The An Taisce report on Dungarvan stated: "A very solid result for Dungarvan as the peak tourist season approaches, with five out of the ten sites surveyed getting the top litter grade and none heavily littered."
Top ranking sites included Main Street, Dungarvan Castle, Walton Park and Grattan Square. Walton Park and Gratton Square were not just good with regards to litter but very well presented and maintained.
The report highlighted that despite the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), bottles and cans are not disappearing from our streets.
“If we had hoped that the DRS would see this litter disappear from our streets, it’s not happening,” said IBAL's Conor Horgan.
“15 cent or 25 cent does not appear enough to incentivise some people to return a bottle or can. That said, by reducing this litter by 50%-plus, the scheme’s impact on overall cleanliness levels is beyond dispute.”
