Latest news with #IrishBusinessAgainstLitter
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- General
- Irish Times
Naas named Ireland's Best Kept Town in all-island competition
Naas, Co Kildare, has been named Ireland's Best Kept Town, beating competition from Derry, Omagh in Co Tyrone, and Carrigaline in Co Cork in the large urban centre category. Towns and villages across the island were assessed on the level of public cleanliness and facilities, the outward appearance of roads and buildings and the quality of local wildlife. Earlier this week Naas was named the cleanest town in Ireland by the Irish Business Against Litter association, a title it has won three times since 2020. The survey, conducted by An Taisce, made reference to a 'spotless' Naas plaza and 'a much cared for' canal bank. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Ireland's Best Kept Town competition, a cross-Border initiative between the Supervalu TidyTowns competition in the Republic and the Northern Ireland Amenity Council's Best Kept awards. READ MORE Buncrana, Co Donegal, was named the island's best kept large town, beating Rush, Co Dublin and Comber, Co Down. Royal Hillsborough, Co Down, won the small town category ahead of Carlingford, Co Louth; Bagenaldstown, Co Carlow; and Randalstown, Co Antrim. Donaghmore, Co Tyrone, was named the best kept village – Eyeries, Co Cork and Riverstown, Co Sligo were nominees in the category. Winners were announced today at a ceremony in Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park, with Minister for Rural and Community Development Dara Calleary saying 'being nominated for these awards is an achievement in itself. It is a recognition of the efforts made by volunteers and local communities'. 'It is a testament to how local volunteers take ownership of their local areas and work to improve them,' he said. Doreen Muskett, chairperson of the Northern Ireland Amenity Council, said 'these competitions continue to demonstrate the great pride that people have in their communities, North and South, and the hard work that is carried out by volunteers'.
BreakingNews.ie
12 hours ago
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Dublin City Council vows to end waste collection via plastic bag in next two years
Dublin City Council has vowed to end collection via plastic bin bags over the next 18 months to two years. Although the vast majority of households use bins to collect their waste, some parts of the inner city continue to use plastic bags. Advertisement The situation arises because many of the small terraced houses and apartments in the area lack sufficient room for bins. As a result, they have been exempted from the requirement to use them. This week, Irish Business Against Litter revealed that Dublin's north inner city is the most littered area nationwide. This has been attributed to the continued use of plastic bags for the collection of rubbish. Dublin City Council spokesperson, Derek Kelly, told Newstalk Breakfast on Tuesday that all cities struggle with littering. 'It's not just the north inner city, there are other areas and other areas of the country that have similar issues,' he said. Advertisement 'What we need to be conscious of is, the public have to do their part too. 'The city council is putting significant resources into trying to improve the visual amenity of the city and tackle littering. 'We've recruited over 100 additional staff in the last 12 months to improve our operations. 'We're investing significant sums in a new, modern fleet which helps us wash and scrub over 27km a week of our city pavements - so, when people come into work in the morning, the city is as clean as it can be.' Advertisement Mr Kelly indicated that the city council does 'have a plan' to end the of plastic bags. However, he stressed it was not an 'easy task'. 'We are just ready to go on a pilot area off Grafton Street - there are 90 streets around Grafton Street,' he said. 'We have all the arrangements in place; we have two waste compactors that we placed at two strategic locations in that area. 'Customers of the private collectors will have a number of options for disposing of their waste. 'We do intend to move that throughout the city; we have an equally sized area in the north city, covering Henry Street, O'Connell Street, Abbey Street and the surrounds. 'Then we'll be moving further out into the suburbs and urban villages.' Mr Kelly insisted that the days of plastic bags on the streets of Dublin are coming to an end. 'We're all in agreement that the days of plastic bag presentation are ending,' he said. 'And it will be gone within the next 18 to 24 months.'
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- General
- RTÉ News
Areas in Dublin and Cork 'seriously littered' despite nationwide improvement
Areas in Dublin and Cork were two of the most littered in the country despite a nationwide improvement on last year, the latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey shows. The new report revealed that the number of areas deemed littered or worse is at its lowest in five years. Cork city's northside and Dublin's north inner city both featured at the bottom of the rankings and were labelled as "seriously littered". Only two of the 25 sites surveyed in Dublin's north inner city area warranted a 'clean' grade - the lowest number in years. IBAL's Conor Horgan said: "Unfortunately litter was everywhere in the north inner city, in stark contrast to the city centre just a few streets away." He stressed the negative impact of waste collection by bags instead of bins as "greater than ever", with scavenging by gulls a persistent problem. "We need the council to come good on its intention to convert the entire city to bin collection services. "In addition, it is high time that appropriate legal changes were brought into effect to allow the council to pursue those responsible for littered basements, an age-old blight on our capital city," he added. Meanwhile, Dublin and Cork city centres were noted as being "clean for peak tourist season". According to the An Taisce report for Dublin city centre, "considerable improvements" were noted at sites previously deemed as heavily littered. These included sites on Middle Abbey Street, O'Connell Street, Nth. Frederick Street and beside the Jervis Luas. Dumping on Dominic Lane and a littered basement on Parnell Square prevented the capital from attaining a "clean" status. However, the environs of Dublin Airport, typically found to be clean, were this time found by the An Taisce inspectors to be "moderately littered". Naas was once again top of the ranking of 40 towns and cities, ahead of Ennis and Killarney. Overall, two-thirds of towns were clean, which was up on last year. The survey found the main streets of towns to be generally clean, as were heritage and amenity sites. Residential areas, bus and train stations and recycle facilities were most likely to be littered. The report also noted a fall-off in disposable vape litter, adding that the prevalence of coffee cups on our streets "remains stubbornly high". Plastic bottle and can litter are down 50% on previous levels one year on from the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme. However, they were still found in 20% of the 500-plus sites surveyed across the country. "We hope that the scheme will see the disappearance of this litter, but statistics so far do not bear this out.
The Journal
2 days ago
- General
- The Journal
Areas deemed littered at lowest level in five years - but Dublin and Cork have 'deteriorated'
THE NUMBER OF areas around the country deemed littered is at its lowest level in five years, according to the group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL). The survey of 40 towns and cities, which is carried out by the environment NGO An Taisce on behalf of IBAL, found that two-thirds of towns were clean overall, an increase on last year. Naas topped the ranking for the second year in a row, ahead of Ennis and Killarney. However, the IBAL survey said that while Dublin and Cork city centres have improved in advance of the peak season for visitors, the capital's North Inner City and Cork Northside have both 'deteriorated'. Cork Northside fell to 'seriously littered', while Dublin's North Inner City, also seriously littered, came out at the bottom of the survey. Only two of the 25 sites surveyed in the area warranted a clean grade – the lowest number in years. 'Considerable improvements' were noted at some Dublin sites previously deemed as heavily littered, including Middle Abbey Street, O'Connell Street, North Frederick Street and beside the Jervis Luas. Among the litter blackspots found were Spencer Dock, which suffered from dumping of household items; Dorset Lane, where large black sacks, a mattress and clothing items were strewn about; and the environs of the Royal Canal, where sacks of rubbish and other miscellaneous items, including some tents, featured among the litter. It said that dumping on Dominic Lane and a littered basement on Parnell Square prevented Dublin from attaining 'clean' status. IBAL IBAL 'Unfortunately litter was everywhere in the North Inner City, in stark contrast to the City Centre just a few streets away,' IBAL's Conor Horgan said. Advertisement Horgan said the negative impact of waste collection by bags instead of bins 'appears greater than ever'. He added that there would likely be 'no progress' in the North Inner City without a ban on bags, and called on Dublin City Council to convert the city to bin collection services. Businesses in Dublin city centre will be banned from leaving their waste in plastic bags for collection from 16 September. The top nine places in Ireland that were deemed 'cleaner than European norms' are as follows, and in this order: Naas, Ennis, Killarney, Leixlip, Monaghan, Sligo, Tullamore, Waterford City and Wicklow. Deposit Return Scheme Only four areas were branded littered or seriously littered overall, including Ballybane in Galway and Tallaght in Dublin. An Taisce inspectors found the environs of Dublin Airport, which are 'normally clean', to be moderately littered. Ballymun, Carlow, Fermoy, Longford and Navan were also among some of the areas found to be moderately littered. The survey noted that plastic bottle and can litter is down 50% on previous levels, a year on from the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme. However, it said this kind of litter was still found in 20% of the 500-plus sites surveyed across the country. 'We hope that the scheme will see the disappearance of this litter, but statistics so far do not bear this out,' Horgan said, adding that cans and plastic bottles 'are far from a rare sight on our streets and in our hedgerows'. The survey also found that the prevalence of coffee cups on streets across the country remains stubbornly high. But there was a fall-off in disposable vape litter. Last year, Cabinet approved draft legislation to ban the sale of disposable vapes in Ireland. A ban on selling the products in Northern Ireland and the UK came into effect on 1 June. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Independent
Revealed: Lowest number of litter blackspots in five years – but some areas remain stubbornly dirty, new survey finds
However, north inner-city Dublin and Cork city's northside remain 'seriously littered', according to the Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal) survey. Ibal's Conor Horgan said: 'Unfortunately litter was everywhere in the north inner city [Dublin], in stark contrast to the city centre just a few streets away. 'The negative impact of waste collection by bags instead of bins, appears greater than ever, with scavenging by gulls a persistent problem. 'No progress is likely in the north inner city without a ban on bags. We need the council to come good on its intention to convert the entire city to bin-collection services. 'In addition, it's high time that appropriate legal changes were brought into effect to allow the council to pursue those responsible for littered basements, an age-old blight on our capital city.' Dublin City Council plans to eliminate bag collections within the next year. City residents and businesses will need to use designated bins for waste collection instead of leaving out loose plastic bags. The move is intended to create a cleaner area. Naas in Co Kildare was top of the 40 cities and towns who have been deemed 'cleaner than European norms'. Ennis, Co Clare, was placed second, Killarney, Co Kerry, was third and Leixlip, Co Kildare, was placed fourth. Ibal said its latest survey showed more towns were clean than last year and the number of areas deemed littered or worse is at its lowest in five years. In general, Dublin and Cork city centres had improved in advance of the peak season for visitors, the survey noted. Only four areas were judged to be littered or seriously littered. Among these were Ballybane in Co Galway and Tallaght in Dublin, which suffered a dramatic fall compared to last year. A year on from the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme, plastic bottle and can litter is down 50pc on previous levels but was still found in 20pc of more than 500 sites surveyed across the country, the survey noted. 'We hope the scheme will see the disappearance of this litter, but statistics so far do not bear this out. Cans and plastic bottles are far from a rare sight on our streets and in our hedgerows,' said Mr Horgan. The litter blackspots in Dublin city were Spencer Dock, which suffered from dumping of household items; Dorset Lane, where large black sacks, a mattress and clothing items were left and the environs of the Royal Canal, where sacks of rubbish and other miscellaneous items, including tents, were among the junk found. While the prevalence of dumped coffee cups on streets remains high, there was a fall-off in disposable vape litter. The UK and Northern Ireland outlawed disposable vapes earlier this month and a ban here was likely in the coming months, Ibal said.
