Waterford is once again Ireland's cleanest city

The results of the first national litter survey for 2024 has revealed Waterford is once again Ireland’s cleanest city.

The results of the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey also showed the Deposit Return Scheme was contributing to lower litter levels and in addition to the city’s overall standing, Ballybeg was shown to have scored “exceptionally well”.

The study revealed an overall improvement in litter levels, and a decrease in cans and plastic bottles on streets on foot of the Deposit Return Scheme and Waterford City was was listed just outside the Top 10.

With regard to Ballybeg, the An Taisce report stated: ‘Ballybeg has scored exceptionally well this time around – well done to all concerned. With seven top ranking sites there are some which deserve a mention, particularly the Bring Facility at Tesco Ballybeg, as this has regularly been a heavily littered site in previous surveys.’ 

The inspectors also noted that all approach roads presented well and the residential areas of Ardmore Terrace and Clonard Park were both much better than previous IBAL surveys.

“This time around they just missed the top litter grade,” noted the An Taisce inspectors in the report.

However, they noted that “by far the most heavily littered site” was Ballybeg Stores / Ballybeg Pizza and environs.

“Development was taking place at the adjoining site (formerly Ryan’s) - perhaps this will breathe some new life into what was a heavily littered area,” they stated.

The inspectors stated: “Waterford City has actually improved on its previously strong showings, with only one heavily littered site, beside Vee Car Park. It was particularly encouraging to see notable improvements at a couple of sites [such as] the ‘Bring Facility’ at Tesco Ardkeen."

The inspectors also stated the Miscellaneous Woodpecker Site was much improved “but clearly requires constant monitoring”.

“Some sites deserve special mention, particularly with regards to the overall presentation and maintenance of same,” they stated before describing the Viking Triangle / Museum Quarter as “exceptionally good”.

Broad Street and Barronstrand Street were described as “attractively laid out with lovely seating, trees providing coverage for those looking for a place to sit in the shade and very good street furniture”.

They also noted works continuing at “the beautiful People’s Park” which they said was “excellent with regards to litter”.

The residential area of Bowefield / Riverpark was noted as “spotless” and the inspectors also took note of the substantial works that have taken place along Grattan Quay and the approach from the Greenway.

“The result is a lovely, welcoming route into the city,” they noted.

The inspectors commented that “the relic” of Waterford Crystal along Cork Road “has finally been addressed”, noting that construction is underway with SETU signage indicating plans for the future. The study, conducted by An Taisce on behalf of IBAL, showed a healthy rise in towns reaching the upper tier of cleanliness nationally – ‘Cleaner than European Norms’ - and a fall of 35 per cent in the number of towns branded ‘littered’.

Naas regained the top position it lost last year, ahead of Monaghan and new entrant Blanchardstown. Ballybane in Galway slipped to bottom of the rankings.

“Our study paints a much better picture than a few years ago, with levels of cleanliness definitely rising,” said IBAL’s Conor Horgan.

“Once again, no town was judged to be either a ‘litter blackspot’ or ‘heavily littered’ – that’s real progress,” he said.

While city areas fared well generally, with notable improvements in Limerick City, Mahon in Cork, Tallaght and North Dublin Inner City, along with Limerick South (Galvone) recording its best ever result, Dublin City centre showed a fall in cleanliness on last year.

There was almost a 30 per cent fall in the prevalence of can-related litter since the previous survey.

While plastic bottles were also less common than in any past survey, they remain the third most prevalent form of litter on our streets.

“It’s early days and we’re still seeing too many plastic bottles on our streets, but we can expect further improvement as people become accustomed to the Deposit Return Scheme and the legacy non-returnable items are flushed out of the system,” said Mr Horgan.

“Ultimately, we should see can and plastic bottle litter disappear entirely,” he added.

He went on to comment: “These initial results indicate that if there's a monetary incentive to do the right thing, people will respond. The same logic applies to a coffee cup levy. Tackling specific litter types with tailored measures is the most effective way of ridding our streets of litter. We concede that it's an inconvenience for people but that's a price we must pay.” However, unlike in some countries, the Return Scheme does not include beer bottles, which were found in 10 per cent of sites.

“Is there a good reason why we cannot go further and make these bottles returnable also?” said Mr Horgan.

“It is disappointing that we see no progress in the development of degradable chewing gum,” he added.

“Across a swathe of industries, companies are adapting their products and packaging in the interests of the environment, but there seems to be no impetus for gum manufacturers to take such a step. As a result their products lie on our streets for decades and decades.” Cigarette butt litter also remained stubbornly high, present in 31 per cent of the sites surveyed.