Adele O’Connor – BA, MBSEnvironmental Education Unit

An Taisce

IBAL

Irish Business Against

Litter

www.ibal.ie

Set up in 1996: alliance of companies sharing a belief that continued

economic prosperity – notably in the areas of tourism, food and foreign

direct investment – is contingent on a clean, litter-free environment

Financially Assisted By:

IBAL Members

• Merrion Hotel• CRH• Ireland’s Blue Book• Unilever• Pepsico• Irish Tree Centre• Musgrave Group• Janssen• Shamrock Foods Ltd• Irish Hotels Federation• Costelloe and Costelloe

• KPMG• Windsor Motors• Ballymaloe• Glen Dimplex• Kelly’s Hotel• Conrad Hotel• Allergen• Colin Moore – Creative

Design• Quinn Health Care• John Fleming Architect• Coillte

AIM:

TO ENSURE THAT ALL TOWNS / CITIES SURVEYED

ARE

CLEAN TO EUROPEAN NORMS

IBAL Anti-Litter League

Positive Aspects of Clean Environment

For the common good

and the totality of the community

Negative Aspects of Litter

• Effects the way people think about their area

• Lessens civic pride / Lessens volunteering in the community

• Leads to other environmental degradation

• Can make areas feel unsafe

• “litter” means a substance or object, whether or not intended as waste (other than waste within the meaning of the Waste Management Act, 1996, which is properly consigned for disposal) that, when deposited in a place other than a litter receptacle or other place lawfully designated for the deposit, is or is likely to become unsightly, deleterious, nauseous or unsanitary, whether by itself or with any other such substance or object, and regardless of its size or volume or the extent of the deposit;

Definition Of Litter

If you own / are responsible for a place to which the public have access, you are obliged by law to keep the place litter-free, regardless of how the litter got there

The owner / occupier of property that can be seen from a public place is obliged to keep the property free of litter.

Litter – Public Places and Private Property

Ideally:

• Reduces the cost of cleaning for the LA

• Enhances the appearance of the town / city

• If properties are seen to be cleaning their own premises it may change the attitude to litter over time.

• From Jan – June 2008 a total of 14,276 litter fines were served nationwide – of these only 45% were paid

• Enforcement of litter laws is the most effective way of ensuring a litter free environment - Huge room for improvement

• Monies collected to be used in law enforcement with regard to Litter

Litter Fines -

“IBAL’s experience is that if a

town achieves litter free status

for 2 / 3 years it tends to stay

Clean” (20/10/08)

Once clean, it costs less to keep a town clean

Litter attracts Litter

Quote from Dr. Tom Cavanagh

BEGAN IN 2002 – 29 TOWNS / CITIES4 SURVEYS

2009 – 60 TOWNS / CITIES 2 SURVEYS

These are Surveys – a snapshot of a situation on a particular day / time – it is not a census

IBAL Anti-Litter League

• 2002 – just 2 out of 29 towns / cities surveyed were Litter Free with majority either ‘Heavily’ or ‘Very Heavily Littered’

• 2009 – 39 out of 60 towns / cities (i.e. 65%) were Clean to European Norms with only 2 Litter Blackspots

• Schools and train stations have shown significant improvement – over 90% of schools and 65% of train stations were litter free – August 2009

• Third Level Colleges / Universities – Hugely improved – UCC First Green Flag

Progress

• 53 TOWNS / CITIES-i.e. 48 towns and 5 cities

10 sites per town (20+ sites per city)

Sites / Days / Time / Location Types will vary

2 SURVEYS – final result based on performance of both surveys

*** First time to recognise provincial winners - Tree award at year end

Methodology 2010

• Quantitative and Qualitative Info:

• Site Name• Location Type• Litter Grade (A, B, C or D)• Background Environmental

Indicators• Date / Day / Time / Weather• Comment• Photographic Evidence

Survey Form

Completed by Trained SurveyorSeparate Form for each site

• Grade A = Clean to European Norms = 3 Points

• Grade B = Moderately Littered = 2 Points

• Grade C = Serious Litter Problem = 1 Points

• Grade D = Litter Blackspot = 0 Points

Survey Form – Litter Grades

(CR) between 0-100• CR is determined by number of

Grades A, B C and D

• CR = [(Total Raw Score / Maximum Score) x 100]

• e.g. of a town surveyed with 10 sites: 5 Grade As 3 Grade Bs1 Grade C 1 Grade D

= 22/30 X 100

CR = 73

Cleanliness Rating - CR

The top category towns in the last survey averaged:

• 70% Grade A

• 15% Grade B

• 15% Grade C

• 0% Grade D

• Main Shopping Street• Public Car Park• Train / Bus Station• School / College / University• Residential • Industrial Estate• Public Park• River Walk / Promenade• Heritage / Amenity• Approach Roads – 40% of sites• Miscellaneous ** frequently very

poor sites – lack of ‘ownership’

Location Type

Approach Roads

• 40% of sites

One rural area in Ireland:

30% of households had no evidence of registered bin collection

Chewing GumGum Litter Task Force 2006-2009

• Chewing gum is litter.

• There is a €150 for littering.

• The GLT campaign encourages the public to dispose of their gum responsibly in a bin.

IBAL asks

Was anybody ever fined for spitting out chewing gum?

Chewing Gum

• Current Gum – 25 years on the street – should this be sold?

• Options for Chewing Gum?

Chewing Gum Options

• Biodegradable Gum (can be swallowed or disintegrates in 24 hours)

Or

• Current Gum with additive to degrade in 2-4 weeks

Or

• Current Gum with extra tax

Or

• Ban Gum – Singapore option

IBAL on Twitter

• August 2010 –

twitter.com/litterspotter

Citizens are encouraged to alert local authorities to litter blackspots in their area by emailing images from their phone to litterspotter.2010@twitpic.com

Example of Photo submitted on Twitter

Main road from Waterford City out to Tramore

Inniscarra Recreation (!) area west of Cork city. This was the scene on Wed 1st Sept at 1:30pm

Example of Photo submitted on Twitter

Café Anti-Litter Notice