Kilkenny and Carlow have both placed in the Top 10 in the latest litter league.
The Marble city has lost the top spot though in the Irish Business against Litter survey with Portlaoise claiming the title of Ireland’s cleanest town.
Kilkenny is in sixth and remains cleaner than European norms with the An Taisce report stating:
“Kilkenny retains its perennial status as Cleaner than European Norms. As we have come to expect, there were no heavily littered sites. Kilkenny Train Station (Exterior and Interior) wasn’t just good with regard to litter but was very well presented and maintained – it is clearly a place of great pride, based on the various plaques / awards hanging on the wall. Other top-ranking sites of note included the River Bank, Parliament Street and Market Cross Shopping Centre. The latter was particularly well presented and maintained with the opportunity for ‘separating’ waste, attractive seating, planting and some welcoming features along the pedestrian entrance”.
Carlow, who performed poorly in previous surveys, comes in ninth this time and there’s praise for the high standard in the An Taisce report:
“With no heavily littered sites, this was a remarkable turnaround for Carlow after some poor results in past surveys. All three approach roads got the top litter grade, creating a very good first impression of Carlow – they were enhanced by floral displays at the roundabouts. This high standard was maintained for several other sites e.g. residential area of Sycamore Road, Four Lakes Retail Park and Potato Market – the latter was an attractively laid out town centre environment with paving, visitor information and tree planting in good order. Car parking & surrounds at Mr Price Branded Bargains was somewhat improved on previous IBAL visits but was still a moderately littered site”.
This survey was the first carried out by Irish Business against Litter post-lockdown.
