Cigarette-related litter accounted for nearly half of all litter in the State, according to a national survey carried out by the Litter Monitoring Body for the Government.
But the second annual report produced under the national litter pollution monitoring scheme says the cleanliness rating of the areas surveyed improved last year.
Just 4.4 per cent of the areas surveyed were litter free. Nearly half of all areas were "only slightly littered", the survey says.
Cigarette-related litter makes up some 50 per cent of all litter, with food-related litter accounting for a further 30 per cent of litter. Chewing gum is the single largest litter component in the food category and also the second-largest component nationally. It accounts for 28.26 of all litter recorded in the surveys carried out to date.
Packaging litter makes up 14 per cent of rubbish.
Mr Pat the Cope Gallagher, Minister of State at the Department of the Environmnent, said the report was an "invaluable source of information on littering trends".
"The guiding principle of the system is: 'If you can measure the litter problem, you can manage it.' Proof of that principle is reflected in the fact that the data for 2003 shows significant and tangible improvements over results for 2002," he said.
The survey results show an increased number of areas classed as "slightly" polluted, up 7 per cent on the previous year. However, the Minister said these were offset by the corresponding decreases in areas classified as moderately or significantly polluted.
"Over time I would expect this trend to continue, as more local authorities use the system to more accurately identify the nature and scale of litter pollution in their areas and so improve local litter management planning," Mr Gallagher said.
TES Consulting Engineers were appointed by the Minister for the Environment as the Litter Monitoring Body in May 1999 to develop a national litter monitoring system and to oversee the local authorities' implementation of it.