Dublin's North Inner City has again been named a litter blackspot, coming bottom of the latest IBAL survey.
The worst areas included the Canal at Spencer Dock, with "fencing, old bicycles and discarded domestic items" among the litter in the water, Crinian Strand, where "huge swathes of all manner of litter were strewn along the pavement, along with bags of rubbish", and Aldborough Place, where "bags of rubbish dominated".
The study of 40 towns and cities also shows Dublin City Centre has fallen to ‘heavily littered’ in lowly 38th place.
Tallaght lost its Clean status, while Ballymun fell back to 36th spot. However Dun Laoghaire was Clean in 7th place
PPE litter was found to be at its highest level since the pandemic began.
"Frankly, there are few positives to draw from this survey when it comes to our main cities, says IBAL’s Conor Horgan. "Covid is certainly a factor but it alone cannot explain a negative underlying trend of recent years in the cleanliness of our urban areas."
Naas finished ahead of Portlaoise and Ennis to record its first win in the annual rankings.
2021 IBAL ANTI-LITTER LEAGUE – FINAL RESULT
1 |
Naas |
Cleaner than European Norms |
2 |
Portlaoise |
Cleaner than European Norms |
3 |
Ennis |
Cleaner than European Norms |
4 |
Leixlip |
Cleaner than European Norms |
5 |
Arklow |
Cleaner than European Norms |
6 |
Dun Laoghaire |
Cleaner than European Norms |
7 |
Fermoy |
Cleaner than European Norms |
8 |
Longford |
Cleaner than European Norms |
9 |
Kilkenny |
Cleaner than European Norms |
10 |
Buncrana |
Clean to European Norms |
11 |
Waterford City Centre |
Clean to European Norms |
12 |
Monaghan |
Clean to European Norms |
13 |
Killarney |
Clean to European Norms |
14 |
Tralee |
Clean to European Norms |
15 |
Wexford |
Clean to European Norms |
16 |
Clonmel |
Clean to European Norms |
17 |
Cavan |
Clean to European Norms |
18 |
Athlone |
Clean to European Norms |
19 |
Ballina |
Clean to European Norms |
20 |
Tullamore |
Clean to European Norms |
21 |
Sligo |
Clean to European Norms |
22 |
Mullingar |
Clean to European Norms |
23 |
Carlow |
Moderately littered |
24 |
Galway City Centre |
Moderately littered |
25 |
Tipperary |
Moderately littered |
26 |
Navan |
Moderately littered |
27 |
Tallaght |
Moderately littered |
28 |
Dundalk |
Moderately littered |
29 |
Roscommon |
Littered |
30 |
Waterford City - Ballybeg |
Littered |
31 |
Mahon - Cork City |
Littered |
32 |
Cork City Centre |
Littered |
33 |
Limerick City South - Galvone |
Littered |
34 |
Galway Inner City - Ballybane |
Littered |
35 |
Limerick City Centre |
Littered |
36 |
Ballymun |
Littered |
37 |
Cork Northside |
Heavily littered |
38 |
Dublin City Centre |
Heavily littered |
39 |
Drogheda |
Heavily littered |
40 |
Dublin North Inner City |
Litter blackspot |