Dirty old town: Why IS there so much litter around Cork city?

THERE is no point in pretending. Our city is strewn with fag butts, disposable vapes clogging the drains, chewing gum welded to the pavements, and every time the council cuts back the grass verges, a mountain of plastic bags and coffee cups is revealed in all its ugly glory.

On a recent to trip to Portugal, I was humbled by the spotless streets and footpaths; amazed by the number of bins; and impressed by the efforts at recycling that this and other European countries have embraced with vigour.

On many corners, there is an area with recycling bins - normally four or five - which cater for paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, and compostable/food.

The system in Portugal is simple. There are no bin collections so everyone takes their waste and recyclables to the corner of their street.

Under the bins are large containers so there is never an over-flow. Late in the evening, they are emptied without fuss and ready for the morning again.

The street cleaners I met were all women, whose job basically consisted of picking up the odd stray piece of rubbish and using a blower to remove leaves from the footpaths. Their job was a pleasure.

Everybody embraces this way of life, and why wouldn’t they? It’s easy, convenient, free of charge, and it makes their environment a pleasant place to be and is a sign of enduring pride in their locality.

So why, in Cork, do we tollerate litter all over our lovely city? Where is our pride of place gone?

Is it an issue with a lack of bins, the motivation to recycle, are there financial reasons for this, or is it just a lack of respect for our neighbours and our environment?

I posed these questions to a few of our city councillors to get their thoughts…

Cllr Kenneth Collins, of Sinn Féin, says it comes down to education and funding. If we put in the bins, he says, will we have the funding to pay for collections? Will we have the resources?

Education is also very important, he says.

“You look at the wonderful work being done by Tidy Towns groups and groups like the litter pickers in Blackpool and you can see how invaluable they are. These groups are leading the way when it comes to awareness, and if education in schools teaches awareness and pride of place, we will see a huge improvement.”

Cllr John Maher, of Labour, says it’s a behavioural problem.

“Some will just litter, even though they know they shouldn’t. As for the bins, they’re about €1,000 to install, I’m told, but I’ve yet to see data showing me that.

“Our city has doubled in size and we have to respond accordingly. We need seven days per week action, not five, and we need City Hall to sit around the table with the unions and work together on this.

Maybe more bins would be the answer but we need everyone to work together to tackle the issue.

Again, Cllr Maher praises the work of voluntary groups around the city for their sterling work.

“Everyone needs to have a bit of pride in their area,” he adds, “and we need to engage young people who have fantastic ideas.”

Cllr Mick Nugent, of Sinn Féin, says we managed the no smoking change and so we should be able to manage the no litter change as well, seeing as it’s all for the greater good.

“The installation of CCTV in certain areas will help to deter those who dump their rubbish in black spots,” he said. “The problem is multi-faceted, more bins may lead to even more domestic rubbish being left in bags near the bins.

“A mini civic amenity centre in the Northside of the city might go a long way to alleviating the problem. Many people are struggling with the cost of living so the amenity centre could help there.

Also, if the local authority was in charge of collections and it wasn’t outsourced to several companies, it might be more streamlined.

Cllr Oliver Moran, of the Green Party, says, one of the things that councillors in the North East ward have done differently is to use new ward-level budgets to pay for practical amenities, including more public bins where there are gaps.

These have been installed in the Glen River Park and other places.

“Ultimately, though, the only way to really address litter is at its source,” he said.”That’s an economy based on things being disposable and throw-away.

“We’ve banned single-use plastics, like we used to find in takeaway containers, and we’re moving to ban disposable vapes too.

“Putting a ‘latte levy’ on disposable cups should encourage bringing your own cup to be the norm, like we did with plastic bags years ago. The deposit-return on plastic bottles and cans is also now in place.

“Despite being recyclable, less than one out of every four plastic bottles was finding its way into a recycling bin.

“Anyone who has ever taken part in a community clean-up or beach clean knows how much of a problem plastic bottles and cans really are.”

Cllr Moran added: “There’s a renewed spirit of volunteer clean-ups developing in the city, with a new ‘tidy village’ group set up in the Blackpool area. It’s for groups like that, who are out tirelessly every weekend, picking litter out of hedges or fishing it out of streams, that we need to change from a throw-away economy.”

So, all parties seem to be roughly on the same page with this huge issue, an issue that makes our city look unloved and unkempt.

However, without a firm plan for action and with an over-reliance on voluntary groups, will the ugly issue of litter remain unresolved?