Over half of all litter dropped in Ireland last year was thrown away by cigarette smokers, it was revealed today at the announcement of new anti-litter measures.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley today increased on-the-spot litter fines from €125 to €150, effective from September this year, in a move he described as a "clear message that society is not prepared to tolerate litter pollution".
Minister for the Environment John Gormley
Leaving or throwing litter in a public place is an offence under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, subject to an on-the-spot fine for proscribed offences.
Welcoming the publication of the 2006 Litter Pollution Monitoring report, the Minister said the findings demonstrated that people were generally "more aware of their environment and were increasingly prepared to make a personal effort to look after it".
Statistics showed smokers disposing of their used cigarette butts constituted 56 per cent of all litter in Ireland, and discarded chewing gum was the highest food-related category of rubbish.
The Minister said: "We must change the behaviour of the few who do not dispose of their litter in a responsible way, and I hope by increasing the litter fine to €150 it will make people think before littering."
The Minister also said he was satisfied with an agreement between his Department and the chewing gum industry that seeks to reduce chewing gum litter through awareness raising and education.
But he warned: "If I feel that the agreement is not having the desired effect then I will have no hesitation in reviewing it and seeking to implement a levy if necessary."
The Litter Pollution Monitoring report also showed that there was an increase in litter-free areas from 6.1 per cent in 2005 to 6.8 per cent in 2006, while 53.6 per cent of all areas surveyed were only slightly littered and just 0.6 per cent were grossly littered.
Food-related litter, packaging litter and paper litter were the next largest categories of environmental littering, with 35 per cent of pedestrians, 16 per cent of motorists and 11 per cent of retail outlets guilty of the offence.
Minister of State at the Department of Environment Tony Killeen announced the allocation of €950,000 in grants to local authorities for anti-litter public education and awareness initiatives.
The funding is an increase of 41 per cent on last year's allocations, bringing total funding to local authorities for anti-litter awareness initiatives to over €6 million since the introduction of the Litter Pollution Act in 1997.
Mr Gormley said: "It is clearly in everybody's interest to eliminate the degradation to our surroundings caused by litter pollution. While awareness raising and education initiatives are vitally important, I believe that the on-the-spot fine for leaving or throwing litter in a public place should serve to deter people from littering."