Classing city centre as 'moderately littered' not reflective of hard work Cork City Council’s street sweeping crews

Cork’s northside is littered, with three litter blackspots, the city centre is moderately littered, while Mahon has shown “significant improvements”, according to the latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey.

The business group’s latest survey found the northside to be littered, with three litter blackspots, but it noted that while the northside had seen its cleanliness rating slip, there were three top-rated sites recorded.

There were seven sites on the northside which just missed the top litter grade, including Cathedral Rd, Shandon St, Templeacre Ave, and Gerald Griffin St, while number 14 Cathedral Walk, previously a litter blackspot, was now a Grade A site.

The city centre fell short of clean status again this year, and although it had no litter blackspots, five sites were heavily littered, including William St, Penrose Quay, Kennedy Quay, and Anderson Quay.

Improved sites included North Abbey St, South Mall, and Caroline St, while Bridge St was singled out as “a hugely improved environment”.

Alcohol-related litter and graffiti were very much a feature of many of the sites surveyed, IBAL stated.

Mahon was cited as showing “significant improvements overall”, with just one litter blackspot.

“The recent works [and] local initiatives certainly seem to be paying dividends,” the report stated. “Hopefully this upward trajectory will continue.”

However, Mahon’s one blackspot, off Ave de Rennes, “wasn’t just littered, but subject to dumping”, while St Michael’s Lawn and St Michael’s Drive were both heavily littered.

In Mallow, the survey saw a “notable drop compared to the last few IBAL surveys… with just three top-ranking sites this time around”.

Nationally, the survey said, while the Deposit Return Scheme had resulted in a near-50% fall in plastic bottles and cans on the streets, it had not been enough to reduce overall litter levels last year.

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said it would be reviewing the IBAL report, which they said was based on surveys of individual locations and represented a snapshot at a particular point in time.

The spokesperson said: “It is felt that the classification of the city centre as being moderately littered does not reflect the hard work and dedication of the city council’s street sweeping crews who are out seven days a week from early morning to late in the evening, nor the commitment of the majority of businesses and property owners in the city.

“It is worth noting that the IBAL scoring of the city centre consisted of 10 grade A, three grade B+, seven grade B, and five grade C rankings, with no grade D ranking reported.”

The spokesperson added that the local authority was “pleased with the improvements noted in both the northside and Mahon surveys, and would like to pay tribute to its staff and to all the community stakeholders that have worked to bring about the reported improvements”.

They continued: “The council is conscious that addressing the issues of littering and illegal dumping will require a change in both mindset and behaviour as well as a level of personal responsibility being brought to bear by all sectors of our communities. The council is committed to continuing its work of engaging and partnering with its city stakeholders in order to eradicate this type of antisocial behaviour.

“Cork City Council will be undertaking a review of the IBAL report findings with a view to assessing what changes, further actions, or new initiatives need to be carried out to help bring about further improvements for the whole city.”