Litter management costs €3m per annum
THERE is only one way for Limerick city to go now, in terms of winning the war against litter.
Having come in at the lowest and second lowest ranking in the latest two litter surveys conducted by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL), the city is intent on clawing its way up to the top in future surveys.
Its immediate goal is to secure the standard of Clean to European Norms, which it achieved just two years ago.
Pointing out that the city council operates a street cleaning operation 365 days a year, Deputy Mayor, Ger Fahy, said that unfortunately, this is not reflected in the recent IBAL survey.
“The assistance of all sectors of the community is required – businesses and community sectors, as well as private citizens, to bring the city to the Clean to European norms and our initiative, Love Limerick, Don’t Litter is the message,” he said.
With the cost to the city council of approximately €3million annually for the management of litter, a timely reminder comes from the council’s director of services, Caroline Curley, that what is now urgently needed is the support of all citizens, businesses and visitors to the city.
“People must change their behaviour and do the right thing by putting litter in the bin – as I’ve said before, the city council picks up the litter that its citizens drop.
“Active citizenship from all sectors is required to complement the council’s ongoing street cleaning, enforcement and awareness initiatives and without this it will be difficult to achieve a clean to European standard throughout the city,” stressed Ms Curley.
Issuing a reminder that litter is a criminal offence, Garda Chief Superintendent, Dave Sheehan, said the gardai would prefer that people be compliant with the law, rather than any organisation having to go down the enforcement route”.
Urging everyone to play their part in striving for a clean, litter free city, Maria Kelly, chief executive of Limerick Chamber said they are delighted to support the initiative.
“Ensuring we have a well managed, clean city must be a high priority for us all – it’s important that we show ourselves in our best light for the citizens of Limerick, but it is also important from a tourism and investment point of view because it will support local businesses and bring more jobs to the region.
“We must all play our part in keeping our city clean and littering of any kind should never be tolerated”.
