Town cleans up in litter awards
A town previously ranked among the most littered in Ireland was today declared the cleanest in the country.
Carlow was revealed to have the highest litter-free rating out of 29 towns assessed in the All-Ireland Anti-Litter League, compiled by environmental group An Taisce.
The town, which was ranked in just 24th place at the outset of the competition, was one of six given a ‘litter-free’ rating today.
The survey conducted on behalf of the Irish Business Against Litter group (IBAL) showed that the majority of towns in Ireland are getting cleaner.
Performance by towns involved this year rose by almost 30% since last year’s results, with all but six towns showing improvement.
Amongst the other towns classed ‘litter-free’ were Fermoy in Co Cork, Armagh town and Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.
At the bottom of the list was the Liberties area of Dublin, which along with Longford and Drogheda in Co Louth was found to be ‘very heavily littered’.
A special award went to Roscommon, which went from being classed as ‘very heavily littered’ to just ‘moderately littered’ in the space of three months.
Presenting the award to Carlow, Dr Tom Cavanagh of IBAL said the town had proved that clean surroundings were not beyond the reach of mid to large towns with heavy traffic, and praised its rapid improvement.
“Performance of the towns involved rose by almost 30% between the survey and the previous one, with all but six towns showing an improvement,” Dr Cavanagh said.
“The league model has worked in bringing about rapid change. Its legacy will be a visible improvement in the quality of life in our towns and cities.”
At today’s awards ceremony in Dublin, Minister of State Pat Gallagher announced the Department of the Environment would expand the league in 2003.
From 2003 the litter league will be extended to include Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.
