The final litter survey of 2015 by Irish Business Against Litter shows Castlebar to be Clean to European Norms, in 23rd spot among the 40 towns surveyed. The town was deemed ‘littered’ back in 2013, when it was last surveyed. There was a slight fall-off in the number of litter-free towns across Ireland, but no towns were deemed ‘litter blackspots’ and only one was ‘seriously littered’. The winning town will be announced at a function at lunchtime today in Buswells Hotel in Dublin.
An Taisce report for Castlebar stated: “Some of the top ranking sites in Castlebar included Lough Lannagh Park, the residential areas of An Struthán and Blackthorn Village, Sacred Heart Hospital and De La Salle School – clearly these areas are very well respected by the users and carefully looked after by those responsible for the maintenance. The two most littered sites were badly let down by derelict properties – R310 Pontoon Road and L1719 Turlough Road.”
Three quarters of the towns and cities surveyed by An Taisce on behalf of IBAL were found to be Clean to European Norms, a fall of 15% on last year. Likewise, the number of towns deemed Cleaner than European Norms fell from 17 to 12. However, the most littered areas have improved, with Farranree in Cork no longer a litter blackspot and Dublin’s North Inner City shedding its ‘seriously littered’ tag. The cities of Limerick, Galway and Cork were all clean, with Waterford deemed Cleaner than European Norm
