Spring Clean completes milestone 25 anniversary clean-up

National Spring Clean 2024 completed a milestone clean-up, celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary.

Over 5,400 groups joined the 2024 campaign, 165 of those registered in county Mayo.

Castlebar Tidy Towns organised the annual clean-up of the N5 approach road to the town.

A distance of over five kilometres was cleaned by the Castlebar Tidy Towns, members of the International Protection Group and volunteers. 

During the clean-up, volunteers separated the litter collected into different categories for recycling, including plastic, glass, and other recyclable materials.

The clean-up took two hours to complete, and participants removed over 80 bags of litter collected.

With over 500,000 volunteers participating, 2,725 tonnes of rubbish was removed in local communities, bringing the total amount of rubbish collected over the past 25 years to more than 50,200 tonnes.

National Spring Clean Chairperson, Emlyn Cullen, said she was ‘proud’ of this figure, and thanked the ‘huge effort’ of the dedicated volunteers.

Over 4,200 volunteers joined the campaign in Mayo. 

Every April, the National Spring Clean encourages communities from across Ireland to roll up their sleeves and tackle the problem of litter in local areas and to see the benefits of a litter-free environment. 

Minister of State for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Ossian Smyth TD, said: “Over the past 25 years, An Taisce’s National Spring Clean campaign has been a huge success. I am delighted to see another year of positive engagement and community impact. It is fantastic to see the pride individuals take in their local communities. Their dedication and commitment create a really positive impact on their local environment.”  

Furthermore, the National Spring Clean has inspired several community groups in towns and villages across the country to organise regular clean-up events all year long.

This year’s campaign focused on highlighting how the adoption of a circular economy model will reduce our litter and climate impact, by highlighting how the transition to a more circular economy will see less waste, less litter, and lower emissions, and thus, a cleaner planet.

Mars Wrigley Ireland Corporate Affairs Specialist Anne Sheeran stated: “It is always impressive to see the large numbers of people who get involved to better their communities. As an organisation, we remain committed to playing our part in the delivery of a cleaner planet, by supporting important initiatives such as the National Spring Clean.”

Even though April is coming to an end, the organisation is sharing the importance of keeping up this good work all year round.

For more information, see the National Spring Clean website.