Sir, - As a recent teenage immigrant to Ireland, Emma Fitzgerald (August 18th) is very welcome - doubly so, as she and her sister are obviously civic-minded citizens.
She is right to cite lack of awareness as one of the major causes of the widespread litter problem in Ireland. But litter is a universal problem. If we could zoom in on the photograph you published showing members of the media awaiting the arrival of Ms Monica Lewinsky outside the federal courthouse in Washington (The Irish Times, August 7th) we would see the litter on the ground there more clearly. What is more, the main component of the litter appears to be discarded cigarette ends.
An Taisce identified discarded cigarette ends and chewing gum as the most prevalent forms of litter when we conducted our litter monitoring in Co Waterford recently. Waterford County Council has responded by placing special litter bins with "stubber" trays at strategic locations and by investing in an expensive "gum buster" cleaning machine.
Last year the Tidy Britain Group conducted a pilot awareness-raising campaign aimed at reducing the amount of discarded chewing gum found on the streets of two cities in the UK. The campaign resulted in a 60 per cent decrease in the overall level of discarded chewing gum in the period immediately after the campaign. It was a short-term, highly focused and expensive exercise, but it is now being extended to a further eight UK cities with new elements to test its effectiveness over time.
These are only two pieces of the litter problem however; there is a lot of other rubbish out there. An Taisce is now embarking on a series of programmes aimed at litter awareness and prevention. One of them is "National Spring Clean 1999" which will be announced shortly. We will be looking for nationwide support and hope that Emma and her sister will be among our volunteers. - Yours, etc.,
Patricia Oliver,
An Taisce,
Tailor's Hall,
Dublin 8.