Castlebar is clean as nationwide litter levels unchanged

A fall in plastic bottles and cans on our streets, brought about by the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), was not enough to reduce overall litter levels in Ireland last year.

That is the finding of business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL), whose latest survey of 40 towns and cities shows Castlebar to be clean, in joint 14th position, down from 6th spot in mid-2024.

Naas was the cleanest town in the rankings, with Dublin North Inner City bottom of the pile.

The An Taisce report for Castlebar stated: "Top-ranking sites in Castlebar included the approach routes, Market Car Park and Main Street – the latter has been attractively presented and maintained with lovely paving / tree planting etc. By far the most heavily littered site surveyed was a Lane off Cavendish Lane – it presents very poorly with overflowing industrial wheely bins / wooden pallet and large piece of plastic wrapping."  

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Overall litter levels were on a par with 12 months ago. Naas finished atop the rankings for the 3rd time in 4 years, ahead of 5-time victor Kilkenny and Monaghan town. 

In all, 60 percent of the towns and cities surveyed were deemed ‘clean’. Galway replaced Waterford as the cleanest city, but city areas occupied all but one of the bottom 10 places in the IBAL league table, despite some improvement in Limerick and Mahon in Cork. ‘Littered’ Ballybane in Galway and Dublin City Centre deteriorated year-on-year, while Dublin North Inner City was the only area to be branded ‘seriously littered’.   

On a positive note, 2024 saw a further fall in the number of sites within cities and towns that were deemed ‘litter blackspots’, which suggests that local authorities were generally more effective in tackling urban dumping and in addressing sites that IBAL had previously highlighted. 

The survey also revealed a near-50% fall in the prevalence of plastic bottles and cans in the 500+ sites monitored since the Deposit Return Scheme was introduced last year. 

“We are definitely seeing cans and bottles disappear from our streets, which is very welcome – not only are they unsightly, but the bottles contribute to the very real problem of plastic pollution. However, it is clear from our survey that people continue to discard a wide range of litter types with flagrant disregard for their surroundings,” says Conor Horgan.

"Sweet wrappers and fast-food wrappers were the most common litter types, ahead of plastic bags and coffee cups, which were present in over 20% of sites.  

“The DRS was one of a number of structural measures broached by the last government as part of its environmental agenda, with knock-on benefits in terms of litter. A ban on disposable vapes and a coffee cup levy were others. 

“The need for such measures is evident in the stubbornly low penetration levels of refillable coffee cups and the proliferation of highly damaging vape litter, which cannot be recycled. If we are to see sustainable improvement nationwide, it is important that the incoming regime maintain the momentum on anti-litter legislation.”

Killarney, which outlawed disposable coffee cups in 2023, was one of the most improved towns last year, rising from 14th to 4th in the rankings. “Given the evident success of this initiative in Killarney, it is perplexing why other towns have not yet followed suit,” commented Conor Horgan.     

The Dr Tom Cavanagh Memorial Trophy will be presented to the Cathaoirleach of County Kildare Cllr Kevin Duffy at Naas Library and Cultural Centre at noon today.