IBAL results: Here's how Kilkenny fared in latest litter and cleanliness survey

Kilkenny has retained fourth place in the latest IBAL ranking of 40 towns and cities, announced today.

The study reveals an overall improvement in litter levels, and a decrease in cans and plastic bottles on our streets on foot of the Deposit Return Scheme. 

The An Taisce report for Kilkenny stated: "Kilkenny has scored very well, as we have come to expect from the former IBAL multiple winner. It has consistently been a high-ranking town for many years.  With so many top-ranking sites, some are worth mentioning. 

"Kilkenny's MacDonagh Railway Station (exterior and interior) was an excellent environment and clearly one where the station staff are clearly very proud of their station. Parliament Street was an exceptionally freshly presented shopping street, with attractive paving and all elements in very good order. The bring facility at St Canice’s has often been littered in previous surveys – not so, this time around."

The study, conducted by An Taisce on behalf of IBAL, showed a healthy rise in towns reaching the upper tier of cleanliness – ‘Cleaner than European Norms’ - and a fall of 35% in the number of towns branded ‘littered’. Naas regained the top position it lost last year, ahead of Monaghan and new entrant Blanchardstown. Ballybane in Galway slipped to bottom of the rankings.

“Our study paints a much better picture than a few years ago, with levels of cleanliness definitely rising,” says IBAL’s Conor Horgan. “Once again, no town was judged to be either a ‘litter blackspot’ or ‘heavily littered’ – that’s real progress.”     

City areas fared well, with notable improvements in Limerick City, Mahon in Cork, Tallaght and North Dublin Inner City. Limerick South (Galvone) recorded its best ever result. Dublin City Centre, however, showed a fall in cleanliness on last year.

Fewer cans, plastic bottles
There was a near-30% fall in the prevalence of can-related litter since the previous survey. While plastic bottles were also less common than in any past survey, they remain the third most prevalent form of litter on our streets.

“It’s early days and we’re still seeing too many plastic bottles on our streets, but we can expect further improvement as people become accustomed to the Deposit Return Scheme and the legacy non-returnable items are flushed out of the system. Ultimately, we should see can and plastic bottle litter disappear entirely.

“These initial results indicate that if there's a monetary incentive to do the right thing, people will respond. The same logic applies to a coffee cup levy. Tackling specific litter types with tailored measures is the most effective way of ridding our streets of litter. We concede that it's an inconvenience for people but that's a price we must pay.”

Coffee cups, while down, were present in one of every five sites surveyed. Unlike in some countries, the Return Scheme does not include beer bottles, which were found in 10% of sites. “Is there a good reason why we cannot go further and make these bottles returnable also?” asks Mr Horgan.    

“It is disappointing that we see no progress in the development of degradable chewing gum. Across a swathe of industries, companies are adapting their products and packaging in the interests of the environment, but there seems to be no impetus for gum manufacturers to take such a step. As a result their products lie on our streets for decades and decades.”

Cigarette butt litter remains stubbornly high, present in 31% of the 500+ sites surveyed.