Waterford regains Ireland's cleanest city title

Waterford has emerged as Ireland’s Cleanest City in the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Anti-Litter League. 

The city ranked 8th out of 40 cities and towns and was classed as 'Cleaner than European norms'.

The news was highlighted by Waterford City & County Council with a spokesperson highlighting that the city continues to score very well in the league.

Referencing the latest survey, the spokesperson said: "Waterford City has retained its high-ranking position and was again Ireland’s cleanest city. With so many top-ranking sites, it’s not possible to mention them all, but some stand out for various reasons.” 

Most of the sites surveyed received a Grade A ranking and these, amongst others, included the Greenway Car Park, Waterford Retail Park, Plunkett Train Station, Waterford Courthouse, the Tramore approach road and City Square Shopping Centre.

The spokesperson also referenced the comments noted by the inspectors with regard to the Mall - which also received a Grade A rating: 'Plenty of signage indicates the historic nature and significant of many of the buildings along The Mall. There was no litter associated with the large building which was covered in scaffolding. All aspects of The Mall were in excellent order, not just very good with regards to litter but the overall presentation and maintenance of same e.g. visitor information signage/ 3D models/seating etc. and the recent restoration of 'O'Sullivan's' is a wonderful addition to the area.'.

"The Quays Riverwalk from The Tower Hotel to the Bridge, was also graded A," said the Council spokesperson in a statement to Waterford News & Star.

The inspectors noted there was excellent visitor information signage close to Reginald's Tower and they also said the large planter boxes looked very well while the William Vincent Wallace Plaza was noted for being 'spotless' with the remainder of the riverwalk being virtually free of litter during the inspection.

The inspectors only found one heavily littered site and that was at the Bring Bank at Tesco Ardkeen.

The Council spokesperson highlighted that Ballybeg once again recorded a solid result, and despite a slight dip on previous years was classed as Clean to European norms. 

Commenting on the report Mayor of Waterford City & County, Cllr Jason Murphy, said: "This is another great result for Waterford City and for Ballybeg. Consistently, the city has performed outstandingly well in the IBAL Anti-Litter League."

His sentiments were echoed by Ella Ryan, Environmental Awareness Officer with Waterford City and County Council, who said: "I would like to acknowledge the work of Waterford City and County Council, the numerous volunteer clean-up groups and the local communities for their consistent hard work which year in, year out, never fails to deliver for Waterford City."

“This collaborative approach is clearly working as Waterford has upped its ranking and attained Cleaner than European norms classification – a first for the city," she said.

Significantly, the IBAL inspectors noted there were no litter blackspots in the city and said: 'The residential area of Ardmore Terrace and Ballybeg Stores and environs were much improved compared to previous IBAL surveys, just missing the top litter grade this time around.'.

However, it was noted that the Ballybeg Bring Bank wasn't just littered but 'dumped upon'.

The inspectors said: 'These results aren’t achieved by chance. It takes a dedicated Local Authority cleansing team, in tandem with an army of volunteer clean up groups, residents’ associations and community and business groups, who have the utmost pride in where they live and work.'

Details of the Irish Business against Litter Survey can be found at https://ibal.ie/anti-litter-league/