Disadvantaged areas of cities and towns are lacking a sense of “pride of place” and suffering from increasing litter levels, according to the latest report from campaign group Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal).
The report singled out Dublin’s north inner city and Ballymun, Cork city’s northside and Mahon as well as Galway’s suburb of Ballybane as examples of disadvantage and litter pollution.
In a conclusion aimed at policy-makers, Ibal called for more emphasis on mixed social and private housing to “create real communities”. The organisation also called for a better system of enforcement, remarking that the cost of litter wardens was 10 times greater than the revenue collected through litter fines.
The Ibal report, based on surveys carried out by An Taisce over the summer, praised Fermoy in Co Cork, which it found to be the cleanest of the 40 towns and cities surveyed.
While Dublin city centre was found to be clean, registering one of its best-ever results, the north inner city and Ballymun had both deteriorated since the last survey and were described as “heavily littered”. Cork City’s northside and Mahon also showed higher levels of litter than previously seen, as did Ballybane in Galway city, which was bottom of the rankings.
Blackspots
The An Taisce survey for Ballybane noted “pathways riddled with heavy levels of food-related litter”, “huge swathes of all manner of litter, as well as discarded bags of rubbish” and dumping near St Brigid’s Church. There were several blackspots in Ballymun, which suffered from widespread dumping, according to the report.
The survey of Navan in Co Meath showed the greatest improvement of any town, rising 20 places in the rankings.
In the frenzy to address our housing shortage, we must be mindful of the need to build communities along with houses
But overall, Ibal said the reports highlight the prevalence of “long lie” litter in sites as evidence of neglect over long periods. “In most cases the litter we encounter doesn’t appear overnight, but has been present over a long period,” said Ibal spokesman Conor Horgan. “It is frustrating to see surveyors highlighting the same sites year-on-year with no evidence of clean-up. It also bears out our contention that our litter problem is concentrated in areas that are being neglected by local authorities. A concerted effort to clean up these areas would contribute greatly to a cleaner environment.
“Our surveys have consistently revealed a disparity in cleanliness between our city centres on the one hand, and neglected city areas on the other,” said Mr Horgan. “This disparity has never been more acute than this year – our city centres are cleaner, while disadvantaged urban areas are more littered.
Real community
“What is often lacking in these areas is a sense of ‘pride in place’. This in turn reflects an absence of real community. In the frenzy to address our housing shortage, we must be mindful of the need to build communities along with houses. Mixed housing is the long-term solution to our urban litter problem.”
Ibal also said the most recent statistics available on litter enforcement show the cost of litter wardens was 10 times greater than the revenue collected through litter fines. While the cost of the service has risen over the past six years, the revenues collected have halved from €1.7 million to €840,000.
While Mr Horgan acknowledged it was sometimes intuitive to believe that spending on litter wardens should reduce litter fine income, he said there was not a significant rise in cleanliness to support this.
“By any measure, this represents a pitiful return on taxpayers’ money and should be addressed. These resources could be put to better use elsewhere,” he said.
