Waterford City retains title of Cleanest City in Ireland
In the most recent IBAL report, Waterford was classed as Cleaner than European Norms and was ranked 12th out of 40 town and cities surveyed. Ballybeg ranked 11th and was also classed as Cleaner than European Norms.
The judges report noted that “Again our cleanest city, Waterford City has actually improved on its previously strong showings, with only one heavily littered site, beside Vee Car Park. It was particularly encouraging to see notable improvements at a couple of sites e.g. ‘Bring Facility’ at Tesco Ardkeen (very much deserving of the top litter grade) and the Miscellaneous Woodpecker Site was much improved but clearly requires constant monitoring.
Some sites deserve special mention, particularly with regards to the overall presentation and maintenance of same: Viking Triangle / Museum Quarter was exceptionally good; Broad Street / Barronstrand Street was attractively laid out with lovely seating, trees providing coverage for those looking for a place to sit in the shade and very good street furniture; works continue apace at the beautiful People’s Park – it was excellent with regards to litter; the residential area of Bowefield / Riverpark was spotless; substantial works have taken place along Grattan Quay / approach from Greenway – the result is a lovely, welcoming route into the city.”
“Ballybeg has scored exceptionally well this time around – well done to all concerned. With seven top ranking sites there are some which deserve a mention, particularly the Bring Facility at Tesco Ballybeg as this has regularly been a heavily littered site in previous surveys. All approach roads presented well. The residential areas of Ardmore Terrace and Clonard Park were both much better than previous IBAL surveys – this time around they just missed the top litter grade.”
Areas such as the People’s Park, Viking Triangle and the approach from the Greenway were regarded as excellent sites, were well presented and maintained, and a complete absence of litter was noted throughout.
Fergus Galvin, Director of Services with Waterford City and County Council said that Waterford’s achievement as Ireland’s Only Clean City was a great accolade for the city and one that has been achieved by the hard work of the community and staff alike.
“There has been great investment from local schools, voluntary committees and business communities and that commitment has resulted in Waterford topping the cleanest city table.”
“Environmental awareness initiatives such as the Anti-litter challenge for secondary schools, Tackling Single Use Plastics, Picker Pals, and the Gum Litter Task force have paid dividends, by not only helping keep public realm spaces spotless, but also instilling younger generations with a sense of pride in our place.”
The IBAL report noted that there was a near-30% fall in the prevalence of can-related litter since the previous survey. While plastic bottles were also less common than in any past survey, they remain the third most prevalent form of litter on our streets. “It’s early days and we’re still seeing too many plastic bottles on our streets, but we can expect further improvement as people become accustomed to the Deposit Return Scheme and the legacy non-returnable items are flushed out of the system. Ultimately, we should see can and plastic bottle litter disappear entirely”, says IBAL’s Conor Horgan.
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