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Kerry is significantly cleaner this week after almost 6,000 volunteers took part in the KWD County Clean-Up on Saturday. Thousands of bags of litter were collected from the roadsides and towns and villages during the seventh annual clean-up, which was organised by KWD Recycling and Kerry County Council with the support of many agencies and voluntary groups.

The Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Cllr John Sheahan, was among those who dusted off their gloves, hi-vis vests and litter-pickers and he said the community effort involved was inspirational.

“This was a record turnout for the County Clean-Up and shows how civic-minded many of our citizens are when it comes to keeping the county neat and tidy,” he said. “We had reasonably good weather which was a big help and from early morning, people of all ages rolled up their sleeves and got involved. It would be great to harness the involvement of members of the public on Saturday by getting more people to sign up with their local Tidy Towns group or start a group in their own area and to get people out and about collecting litter more often.’

Cllr Sheahan thanked KWD Recycling and their team for helping to distribute gloves and bags ahead of the Clean-Up and for arranging to dispose of the bags of rubbish collected. He also thanked the GAA, the IFA and the ICMSA in Kerry each of which mobilised their members to get involved on the day.

Noel O’Reilly of KWD Recycling said they were delighted with the turnout and the can-do attitude of all the participants. He also thanked and congratulated local volunteer groups for their involvement.