Having attained a prized second position in the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL ) report published in October, Athlone has dropped to a placement of 16th, the most recently published results have revealed.
Despite the obvious disappointment such a result will bring, in particular to those who remain committed to a town devoid of litter, Athlone is deemed clean, the IBAL report confirmed.
An Taisce, who carried out litter survey on behalf of IBAL, made reference to Athlone’s showing once again on this occasion.
“In common with many other towns, Athlone has slipped, with a couple of quite bad sites halting its progress of recent years. The residential areas of Fairlands and Retreat Avenue were both deserving of the top litter grade. The streetscape along Main Street was excellent, creating a very fresh impression, it was also excellent with regard to litter. By far the most heavily littered site in Athlone was the Batteries Park/Playground, a litter blackspot, it was characterised by large volumes of all manner of litter throughout the grasslands.”
Affording his thoughts to the published report, Athlone Town Mayor, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, noted his placement disappointment but noted vast strides had been conducted to maintain and sustain a clean town.
“Slipping from close to the lofty summit of the league some months ago to a placement of 11th is hard to absorb given all the work that has been carried out by so many people in the meantime.
“However, individuals should be aware that these assessments are carried out by way of a quick ‘drive-through’, a snap-shot in time and not all areas are assessed. So, while we would like to be higher in the table, I am satisfied that despite this report, our standards are in fact as high as ever they have been.
“The results of these assessments depend entirely on where the inspectors decide to go on the day, and on the day in question they didn’t like what they saw. I can assure you, this blip won’t deter the work of our outdoor staff in the Council, Athlone Tidy Towns or the many volunteers who are working away every week to keep their areas clean.
“However, I would call on people now that for the next couple of months they may have a little more time on their hands, to do a little clean up as you are out and about on your daily walk, a little bit will go a long way,” the Town Mayor commented.
In all, litter levels rose in 24 of the 37 towns and cities inspected by An Taisce at the end of 2020, resulting in only 17 being judged to be clean, a fall of over 25 percent on last summer and in sharp contrast to just three years ago, when 80 percent were clean.
According to IBAL, the survey results are consistent with a trend in recent years.
“The decline in cleanliness is less a case of the poorer areas getting worse, but of previously clean towns slipping to littered,” says IBAL spokesperson Conor Horgan. “Covid is clearly a factor here, but we should never accept litter as inevitable. It comes down to people disposing of their waste without regard for their surroundings or their fellow citizens and it is entirely unnecessary.”
One explanation for the rise in litter lies in the restrictions surrounding cleaning services during the pandemic. “While council workers have not been on the streets as much as normal, the general public has been spending more time than ever out of doors,” says Mr Horgan. There was a sharp rise in the amounts of litter on approach roads to towns, reflecting the fact that the benign winter has seen masses of people out walking. “Ironically, too many of them are showing a shameful disregard for the environment they are enjoying.”
