Longford comes clean and rises two places in IBAL summer litter survey

As we enter peak tourism season, there was some relatively good news for Longford in the latest nationwide survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).

Longford is regarded as 'Clean to European Norms' and has risen two places in the IBAL Anti-Litter League rankings, moving up the league from 27th to 25th place.

The results of the final IBAL litter survey of 2022 were published last January and the An Taisce report for Longford expressed concern over the 'heavily littered main shopping street' resulting in the town falling twenty-two places, from the 5th position it held in the summer of '22 to 27th by the end of the year. 

In the ranking of 40 towns and cities published today (Monday, June 25, 2023), Roscommon and Longford have improved to 16th and 25th positions respectively, with Carrick-on-Shannon in 13th.

The great majority of Ireland’s towns were found to be clean, but two-thirds of city areas are still littered. 

An Taisce, who carry out the surveys for IBAL, commented, “A solid performance for Longford, with half of the sites surveyed getting the top litter grade –these included the car park at Albert Reynolds Peace Park, Mall Walk and Longford Library – the latter deserves a special mention as it was much improved on previous IBAL surveys.

"Some sites just missed the top litter grade e.g., Bring Facility at Market Square and Longford Bus / Train Station. The most heavily littered site surveyed was the residential area of Harbour Point.”

According to Conor Horgan of IBAL, “Clearly, tourism is a focus of this annual summer survey and unfortunately the major urban gateways to our towns and countryside – notably Dublin – are falling short of the mark, and creating an underwhelming first impression for visitors."

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Mr Horgan added, “As a high-cost destination, tourists to Ireland can expect better. It’s a fact, too, that the great work being done in our towns is negated by litter in our cities.”      

PPE disappearing, vapes on the rise

The survey showed that PPE litter has not disappeared entirely, with masks found in 7% of sites. There was a slight drop in the prevalence of alcohol cans and bottles, but coffee cups were present in 20% of sites, which, IBAL maintains, backs up the need for a coffee cup levy.  There was an increase in cigarette butt litter.

Vaping devices were included as a litter type for the first time and were evident in 6% of sites. “The impact of disposable vapes is twofold,” remarked Mr Horgan. "Not only are they single-use plastic, but the lithium battery within them is an especially toxic form of litter. Unfortunately, as is our experience with coffee cups, consumers tend to opt for the convenience of the disposable product. In striving for a circular economy, the case for banning them is a strong one.”