Waterford named Ireland’s cleanest city 

Waterford has been named Ireland’s cleanest city once again, according to a new survey.

Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL), which conducted the survey, said that it was “customary” for Waterford to receive this ranking. 

Waterford city has been named Ireland’s cleanest city for several years and has also been classified as “cleaner than European norms.” 

The cleanest county in Ireland is Sligo. The most littered area in Ireland is Dublin’s North Inner City.

 However, IBAL noted that there was an overall improvement in cleanliness across the country with places such as Galvone in Limerick deemed ‘clean’ after being considered ‘seriously littered’ in previous years.

While urban areas continue to dwell at the bottom of the rankings, 10 of the 13 surveyed showed an improvement in cleanliness in 2025.

The survey revealed that the Deposit Return Scheme continues to have a positive impact on the cleanliness of our towns and cities, with a 10% drop in the prevalence of cans and plastic bottles compared to the previous year. 

These two types of litter are now 60% less common than when the scheme was introduced in early 2024.

However, coffee cups and disposable vapes were highlighted as issues.

 IBAL spokesperson Conor Horgan said: “Without Government intervention, coffee cups will remain an unsightly and entirely unnecessary blot on the landscape across our towns.”

 In 2022, the government promised to introduce a levy on single-use coffee cups to encourage people to use ‘keep cups’.

 However, no such levy has materialised, causing many projects, such as the Killarney coffee cup scheme, to be disbanded.

Mr Horgan said, “Weaning ourselves off single-use coffee cups should not be such a big deal.”