Litter league expands name-and-shame survey

A NATIONWIDE litter league that names and shames the country’s litter black spots is to double its operations to include all urban local authority towns with a population of more than 6,000.

The towns will be surveyed by An Taisce and ranked according to their litter levels in the newly expanded Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) league.

Among the areas included for the first time will be Killarney, Naas, Lucan and the Taoiseach’s native Drumcondra.

Certain areas in Dublin and Cork cities will also be pinpointed each year.

“This is a major step towards a litter-free Ireland,” IBAL chairman Dr Tom Kavanagh said.

“Now all of our main towns will benefit from a formula that has reduced litter levels by 33% over the past three years.”

But he warned that a controversial new bin charge system could spark a nationwide wave of illegal dumping and destroy the progress made on litter in recent years.

“While it is an incentive for some to cut down on waste, it is an incentive for others to dispose of waste illegally,” Dr Kavanagh said.

Illegal dumping has increased in Cork city, where a pay-by-use system was introduced last month.

Anti-bin charge rallies are also expected in Dublin in the coming weeks.

Run in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, first round results in IBAL’s expanded league are expected in June.

The 2004 results showed Cavan was Ireland’s cleanest town, while Swords was bottom of the league.