'We're acting and thinking globally': Tidy Towns do so much more than picking up litter
Some of the volunteers with Cobh Tidy Towns
When you think of Tidy Towns, do you only think of collecting litter and watering plants? It’s about so much more than that.
“Living sustainably, living more locally, making better choices, reusing things, generating less waste has always been part of Tidy Towns,” says Ruth Ring, a volunteer with Cobh Tidy Towns in Co Cork, which has been running since the 1970s.
“I joined back in 2009 to do my best to make Cobh an even better place than it is. We all love and appreciate where we are. It’s very rewarding. We’re acting and thinking globally because, if we all make better choices and make better efforts to look after the areas that we live in, it’s all going to be very positive.”
When it comes to the local environment, Cormac McCarthy, chairman of Ennis Tidy Towns in Co Clare, says they have always tried to do more.
“We knew that there was an appetite for biodiversity in the community,” he says.
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“We have been leading the way in terms of pollinator roundabouts. We manage all our grass roundabouts for pollinators. We’re working in partnership with the local authority on road embankments and public green spaces. It all culminated last year when we bought a biodiversity zero-grazer. It’s the first one that has been purchased on the island of Ireland and we got that just before Christmas.
“On the sustainability side, we’ve done a good number of projects. We purchased 1,000 community cups — reusable plastic cups branded with our Tidy Towns logo — that we’ve made available to any community group to use instead of single-use cups. In the year and a half that it was running [before the pandemic], we diverted tens of thousands of cups from landfills.”
Cormac believes the lessons they have learned through Ennis Tidy Towns should be shared among similar groups.
“We want to make our communities a better place to live. Over the last couple of years, we’ve forged really strong friendships and relationships with the likes of Cobh Tidy Towns and Ballincollig Tidy Towns.
“We’re more than happy to share our learning with them because there’s no point in all of us trying to reinvent the same wheel. If we can have a positive impact on biodiversity and sustainability, it’s safe to say the competition becomes secondary and that’s their prime focus.”
In Cobh, Ruth says they have been doing work in recent years to improve the biodiversity of their island town.
“Just before the lockdown happened, we planted hundreds of pollinator-friendly plants at the Five Foot Walkway. When level five [restrictions] came, we had just planted the last plant. We had to get special permission from the gardaí to go to water the plants,” she says.
“It kept people going through lockdown. They got out of the house and they were able to go for their walk and see the plants growing every day and then the insects started coming. As the seasons went by, people got such enjoyment out of it.
“There’s an orchard down there as well, so we planted gooseberry bushes, some little mini apple trees and we added a cherry tree. We’ve put in a barrel of strawberries too. The public can see what’s planted there, pick something if they’re passing by, and we put a little information board showing people exactly what the plants were and to give people guidance if they wanted to do the same thing in their gardens.”
Tidy Towns groups have a strong sense of community, which has never been needed more than in the past year.
“In lockdown, we’ve continued our litter picking. We went out individually, not as a group, but we have a brilliant Whatsapp group and people pick different areas that they want to keep clean. That has kept us going,” Ruth says.
She has seen local businesses strongly support their initiatives, including their local hardware shop, which not only donated paint recently but also gave their time to give a wall a makeover. “They were just outstanding, Hardware House. A lot of that goes on in Cobh and that’s the secret to success — it’s everyone working together.”
Cormac too has seen new members of the Ennis community flourish through the volunteer group.
“Tidy Towns is inclusive, it’s engaging. We’re really fortunate because we have a very diverse community. We work very closely with the direct provision centre,” he says.
“They’re friendly and have a great sense of humour. They mix really well with the other volunteers and they’re not afraid of hard work. It’s a lovely tapestry of a competition. You have the social, cultural, environmental, sustainability, heritage and biodiversity aspects of it.”
A recent project in Cobh highlighting biodiversity that stands out for Ruth was the painting of a mural about local butterflies.
“Kevin O’Brien came down from Cork City and he did the most amazing mural of five native Irish butterflies on a blank wall. The whole idea is to bring it closer to people and it just makes it easier for people to be able to interact and identify with nature. Those kinds of things are all adding to your experience and your appreciation when you come to a place like this.”
Both Cormac and Ruth emphasise how varied the work of a Tidy Towns group is. As Cormac states: “I think people who aren’t involved in Tidy Towns see it as picking weeds and picking up litter. It’s more than that. It is the country’s largest and longest-running environmental and sustainability competition. The name Tidy Towns is a bit of a misnomer really, it’s about so much more than tidying.”
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