The Inishowen town of Buncrana has been marked well in the latest Irish Business Against Litter survey.
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 Buncrana to be clean, in 18th position, an improvement on its “moderately littered” grade in mid-2024.
The An Taisce report for Buncrana stated:
“A very good result for Buncrana with six top-ranking sites and no heavily littered ones. Swan Park (pictured above) deserves a special mention – it is a superb waterside amenity which has been exceptionally well presented and maintained, sensitive to the local environment. Festival Park is also worthy of a mention – it was spotless throughout, a credit to the users and those responsible for the maintenance of same. All aspects of the residential area of Castle Park were in very good order.”
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.”
