By Sean Moriarty

Street cleaning staff from Killarney Municipal District are reporting a marked decrease in litter on the town’s streets since the introduction of reusable coffee cups last month.

Street hero Gavin Gardiner has noticed a marked reduction in litter on the town's streets since the introduction of re-useable coffee cups.

Last week the business community of Killarney announced a project to end single use coffee cups.

The town will become the first in Ireland to do so.

After a soft launch in early July the project officially kicked off at the end of last month.

The move to re-usables is estimated to remove over one million single use coffee cups from the town annually.

The town’s street staff – the unsung heroes that keep the centre spick and span – are already noticing a marked decrease of litter during their early morning rounds.

The reduction in the amount of disposable coffee cups being placed in bins means that the bins are no longer over flowing each morning. As a result there is less litter on the streets of town that needs attention every morning.

Gavin Gardiner is one of those unsung heroes out on the streets early doors every morning.

The decision to move to a reusable takeaway system has been taken following an agreement by 25 local independent coffee shops and 21 hotels.

“There has been a massive improvement since the coffee cups started, there has been at least 50 or 60 percent reduction, if not more in the amount of cups going in to the bins, it is a great help for all of us,” he told the Killarney Advertiser.

“The coffee cups take up an awful lot inside, and there are less cups on the ground.”

So far the scheme is being led by cafes hotels and restaurants but Gavin maintains that shops and supermarkets need to join the project too.

“I think everyone should buy into it, I think the shops should buy into it too. It is a great initiative. I hope they carry it on in to other towns and cities and it is great that Killarney is the first town to do this.”