Pet Hates: Traffic noise irritates Irish people more than barking dogs
Just 19% of households experienced noise pollution from barking dogs, according to the CSO: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie
Irish people hate noise from traffic more than barking dogs and rumpus from neighbouring houses, while four out of five homes use wheelie bins for non-recyclable and recyclable waste.
Those are just some of the findings from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) household environmental behaviours survey, released to coincide with the ongoing Cop26 global climate change summit in Glasgow.
69% of rural households compost garden waste at home https://t.co/HzJ0biYPNN #CSOIreland #Ireland #Environment #Energy #EnvironmentalSubsidies #EnvironmentalAccounts #Climate #EnvironmentalConcerns #EnvironmentalBehaviours #Waste pic.twitter.com/imsR6CzSET
— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) November 8, 2021
A quarter of households experienced irritating noise pollution from road traffic compared with 19% from dogs and 19% from neighbouring houses, the data show.
Renters are more likely to have to put up with noise pollution, the CSO found.
“Households whose members were renting the property were more likely to experience noise pollution of every kind than households which were owner-occupied. No irritating noise pollution was experienced by 58% of owner-occupied households and by 44% of households who were renting,” it said.
Road traffic was the most common noise pollution experienced by both renters (34%) and owner-occupiers (21%), the data show.
Renters also reported high levels of noise from neighbouring houses and dogs compared to owner-occupied homes.
There is a sharp divide between city and country-dwellers when it comes to separating and disposing of waste, the survey found.
Urban households were more likely to dispose of their food and garden waste using a brown bin collection service, with 64% and 52% of urban households using the organic bin for food and garden waste respectively, the CSO said.
This compared with 24% of food waste and 10% of garden waste for rural households, it added.
“Rural households were more likely to dispose of their food waste by using the general waste bin (34%), by composting it at home (29%) or by feeding it to animals (28%),” the CSO said.
Recycling bins are by far the most common way of turning over waste for reuse, the data show.
Some 78% use the recycle bin nationally, while a further 11% brought their recyclable waste to a recycling centre. Some 5% shared a recyclables bin with a neighbour, relative or friend, and just 1% of households said that they did not recycle.
Just 12% of households nationally have had their home tested for radon, despite high-profile campaigns by organisations such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to persuade homeowners to do so.
Dublin and the Midlands are the outliers, the data show.
Testing was most common in the south-east at 23%, followed by the west (21%) and the south-west (17%) where radon levels tend to be higher. Only 6% of Midland households and 5% of Dublin households had had their homes tested for radon.
Radon is a radioactive gas formed in the ground by the radioactive decay of uranium present in all rocks and soils, and causes 300 cases of lung cancer a year in Ireland, according to the EPA.
Of homes tested, 1% had radon levels above the reference level, the CSO said.
Clothes are most likely to be bought secondhand, compared to electronics or furniture.
“Around 8% of households often bought or received used clothes through second-hand shops or internet platforms. Only 1% of households often purchased used electronic items from second-hand shops and 2% often purchased used furniture from second-hand shops,” CSO climate and environment statistician Clare O’Hara said.
