People leaving items beside bottle banks cost Kilkenny in IBAL competition

People leaving their boxes, bottles and old clothes adjacent to a bring bank cost Kilkenny in the latest IBAL survey by An Taisce.

Keep Kilkenny Beautiful is encouraging the public to bring items to one of the several other bring banks in the city if one happens to be full. Kilkenny received a 'Clean to European Norms' rating in the survey, but slipped to 16th overall in the rankings.

In response, Peter Bluett of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful welcomed the designation, and said there had been a very big effort made throughout 2018 to keep Kilkenny litter free.

"We were disappointed that the bring bank at St Canice's Church car park was found by the adjudicator to be badly littered," he said.

"We have been monitoring this location right through the summer and have found that it is very heavily used and the recycle bins fill up very quickly. Unfortunately, people leave their bottles and associated boxes and also clothes adjacent to the bring bank even if it is full. There are six other alternative bring banks around the city which could be used when one bring bank is full."

Regardig the other area to have attracted a negative comment in An Taisce's report, the area at the Dublin Road/Sion Road junction, Mr Bluett said KKB had been working with the council to improve it.

"We completed a planting scheme during 2017/18 to improve this corner in conjunction with Kilkenny County Council," he said.

"This work was remarked on by the adjudicator. It is unfortunate that an area adjacent was found to the littered and with weeds.

"During 2018 many premises throughout Kilkenny redecorated their buildings. Keep Kilkenny Beautiful continue to encourage premises owners to maintain and decorate the premises."

The annual KKB awards night took place at Springhill Court Hotel on Tuesday evening. For full coverage, see next week's Kilkenny People.