Cavan and Monaghan amongst cleanest towns in Ireland

Local towns in top 10 of IBAL league as national litter levels fall in 2022

Cavan and Monaghan are among the cleanest towns in the country, according to the final litter survey of 2022 .

The towns are in seventh and eighth place in the survey of 40 towns and cities nationwide organised by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).

The news was welcome as this time last year Cavan was 17th while Monaghan was 12th, and both deemed 'clean by European norms'. Their progress this year sees their status rise to 'cleaner than European norms'

Three quarters of Ireland’s cities and towns were deemed ‘clean’ in 2022, compared to just over half in the previous year. Naas was again top of the rankings.

An Taisce conducts the surveys on behalf of IBAL. Its report for Cavan town stated: 'Not only has Cavan again scored very well, it was great to see that three previously littered sites were being addressed: Laneway between Main St. and Tesco Car Park, 1-8 Church View and derelict site and steps from James Connolly Street.

'A newly included site is the Green Lough Nature Area – this is a wonderful natural amenity which was appropriately presented and maintained – it was spotless throughout. The Main Street looked very well, with excellent streetscape, particularly at Townhall Square.'

Monaghan

The An Taisce report for Monaghan town stated: 'A very strong performance by Monaghan with the absence of seriously littered sites having a big impact on the overall ranking. The Diamond Shopping Centre has regularly been a seriously littered site – not so this time around, just a moderately littered one. All the approach roads were very good with regard to litter and other examples of top ranking sites included North Road and Monument to Col Vesey Dawson.'

Cleanliness levels nationwide improved by 6% in 2022, and 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.”

Deposit schemes

Plastic bottle 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 contend 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.

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

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," said Conor Horgan.