Once again Waterford has emerged as Ireland’s Cleanest City in the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Anti-Litter League. The city ranked 13th out of 40 cities and towns and was classed as Clean to European norms.
Waterford City continues to score very well in the IBAL litter league, and this was very much helped along by seventeen out of the twenty-four sites surveyed getting the top litter grade and there no litter blackspots.
The report also cited, ‘It’s not just the litter situation which sets Waterford City and other high-ranking towns / cities apart but the overall presentation and maintenance of the sites e.g. The People’s Park has typically been top ranking and yet there were continued works within to improve it.
‘The Riverwalk along the Quays and Merchant’s Quay Car Park have both been recently improved and enhanced.’
Some of the sites that were awarded Grade A include Lady Lane, John Robert’s Square (Barronstrand St./Broad Street), Waterford Greenway at Bilberry, the People’s Park, the Mall, the Medieval Quarter and SETU.
Ballybeg has again scored very well and was also classed as Clean to European norms, with six out of the ten sites getting the top litter grade, three just missing it, and only one seriously littered site.
Ella Ryan, Environmental Awareness Officer with Waterford City and County Council welcomed the IBAL league results, saying “Waterford is once again the cleanest city in Ireland, and that is testament to the work of the local authority, volunteer clean-up groups and the local communities.
“This collaborative approach by the Council with voluntary committees, schools and local business groups is working in keeping Waterford a clean, attractive place to live, work and invest in.
“There remains however, some privately owned sites than need to be addressed, as littering and discarded rubbish was noted in some areas. If every business got behind the movement and ensured their premises and grounds were maintained to a high standard, there is no reason for Waterford not to attain Cleaner than European norms classification in the next survey.”
Ella added, “Waterford City and County Council will continue to introduce new environmental awareness initiatives in addition to those that have generated a seismic shift in how we discard our rubbish, such as Cigarette Butt Ballot bins, Bring Banks Sensor Bins, the Schools Litter Challenge and the Bag It Bin It campaigns.”
Details of the most recent Irish Business against Litter Survey can be found at https://ibal.ie/anti-litter-league/
