A concerted effort by volunteers and the local authority has been hailed as a driver behind Ennis’ climb towards the top of the anti-litter league.
The county town has regained its ‘Cleaner than European Norms’ status in the Irish Businesses Against Litter report published today, rising from 13th place to the runner-up spot in the ranking of 40 towns and cities across Ireland.
Ennis has narrowly missed out on the top spot in the latest anti-litter league survey, with nine out of the ten sites getting the top litter grade.
According to the An Taisce report, commissioned by IBAL, recent enhancement works at O’Connell Street and High Street have resulted in lovely streetscapes on both streets, while improvements were also noted at Dunnes Stores Car Park, which had been deemed littered in previous IBAL surveys.
The N85 approach road to the town, Friar’s Walk Car Park, College View, Abbey Court, Place de Paul De Fenouillet and the Deposit Return Scheme at Aldi also all received high praise and ultimately an ‘A’ grade.
Only Wood Quay Riverwalk was marked down, receiving a B grade, with inspectors noting the overall impression created along the riverside environment was a positive one with paving, seating, and litter bins in very good order.
The site was let down though, by what has been described as the very deliberate ‘stuffing’ of cardboard boxes behind the black street bin.
Ennis fell out of the top ten ranking last January, despite receiving the top award six years previous and IBAL Spokesperson Conor Horgan says this time around the county town had an almost blemish-free report.
Ennis Tidy Towns organises litter picks every week between spring and autumn, with an average of twenty bags of rubbish cleared each night by its team of up to 25 volunteers.
Team member and Ennis Fine Gael Councillor, Mary Howard says one year on from the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme, the impact is evident, but there remains large volumes of litter to be cleared by volunteers, the local authority, businesses and schools.
Overall, two-thirds of Irish towns were clean, with Naas once again top of the ranking of 40 towns and cities, ahead of Ennis and Killarney and only 4 areas were branded ‘littered’ or ‘seriously littered’ which is the lowest number in 5 years.
IBAL says the main city centres; Dublin and Cork have also improved, as summer visitors are welcomed to our country.
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