Galway was one of only two cities in Ireland deemed clean in the latest litter survey from Irish Businesses Against Litter.
The latest nationwide survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter shows the great majority of Ireland’s towns are clean, but two-thirds of city areas still littered.
The survey presents a snapshot of cleanliness levels across Ireland as the peak summer tourist season commences.
Of the country’s cities, only Galway and Waterford were named ‘Clean to European Norms’. However, the list also designates the Ballybane area as ‘Moderately Littered’.
No other towns in Galway were surveyed by An Taisce, which carries out the work on behalf of IBAL, as part of this latest summer survey.
The survey showed that PPE litter has not disappeared entirely, with masks found in 7% of sites.
There was a slight fall in the prevalence of alcohol cans and bottles, but coffee cups were present in 20% of sites, which, IBAL maintains, backs up the need for a coffee cup levy. There was an increase in cigarette butt litter.
Vaping devices were included as a litter type for the first time and were evident in 6% of sites, with Conor Horgan of IBAL stating that they have a twofold impact.
”Not only are they single-use plastic, but the lithium battery within them is an especially toxic form of litter.”
“Unfortunately, as is our experience with coffee cups, consumers tend to opt for the convenience of the disposable product. In striving for a circular economy, the case for banning them is a strong one.”
“With cleaning schedules normalised and PPE litter not a major factor, we can no longer look to Covid as an excuse for littered city streets.”
“Now is the time to assign a new priority to litter, with concrete, resourced actions. In the absence of this, things will not get better,” concludes Conor Horgan.
