By Michelle Crean

Killarney has managed to retain its ‘clean’ status in the latest litter survey - but didn't come close to challenging Naas for the title of Ireland's cleanest town.

That's according to the latest survey the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) which placed Killarney in 28th place with Tralee slightly ahead in 21 place in the ranking of 40 towns and cities nationwide.

In all, three quarters of Ireland’s cities and towns were deemed ‘clean’ in 2022, compared to just over half in the previous year.

An Taisce, which conducts the surveys on behalf of IBAL, said Killarney "just holds on to its clean status".

"While not reaching the heights of previous years, Killarney just holds on to its clean status. Top ranking sites included the approach roads and Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre – the latter was exceptionally well presented and maintained. It is a shame that the Main Street in this important tourist town just missed the top litter grade, not much effort is required to rectify this. By far the most heavily littered area was the ‘Bins at Glebe Car Park’ site – clearly better management of commercial / industrial waste is required here".

Improvement

Cleanliness levels nationwide improved by 6% in 2022, with Naas pipping Kilkenny and Maynooth in the rankings. For the third year in succession, Waterford was the cleanest city, ahead of Galway. Urban areas improved by 12%, yet they continue to occupy the lower positions in the IBAL rankings.

“The results reflect a pattern of improvement since the peak of the COVID pandemic, when litter levels soared, especially in cities,” said IBAL’s Conor Horgan. “In particular we are seeing local authorities concentrate their efforts on ridding areas of heavily littered sites. We have no reason to believe this improvement will not be sustained. Cleanliness is a virtuous circle: clean streets beget clean streets, inspiring a pride and consciousness of the environment among people.”

Plastic

Plastic bottles and cans continue to be a major source of litter, second only to sweet wrappers, and present in one in three of the 500-plus sites surveyed.

IBAL believes the findings bolster the case for a deposit return scheme, which is due to be introduced this year, and which will see consumers pay a deposit which they can reclaim on returning their containers to a retailer or other collection point.

Coffee cups

“Based on this data the scheme is sorely needed and stands to rid our streets of a significant amount of litter. The same applies to the proposed coffee cup levy,” Conor added.

While there was a fall in the prevalence of coffee cups, they were still found in 25% of sites surveyed.

Cigarettes

The survey showed cigarette butts remain a persistent form of litter.

"We welcome the announcement that cigarette manufacturers will now be contributing to the cost of clean-up, but we really need to see preventative measures such as widespread butt disposal facilities alongside innovative packaging which can store butts."