2m to clean up Kilkenny litter

The council’s figures reveal not only that Euro 21.66 per person, or a total of Euro 1,893,344, was spent on cleaning up the county, but also where the rubbish came from.

Environmental awareness officer Bernadette Maloney told the Kilkenny People that pedestrians were responsible for the biggest amount of litter in the county – 35.6%.

Thoughtless pedestrians were followed by gathering areas (12.7%), retail outlets (11.7%), passing motorists (11%), places of leisure (6.4%) and fast-food outlets (6.1%).

The most common type of litter was related to cigarettes, which accounted for almost half of the waste which was not thrown in the bin.

Food-related litter (33.2%) and packaging litter (11.9%) followed.

Councillor Michael Lanigan pointed out that individuals were being pursued while large firms were being exempted from responsibility.

At a council meeting, he said: “I find it slightly difficult that we have people who are on limited money who end up being prosecuted when we have multinational chains who seem to not be prosecuted for their contribution to the litter problem.”

He added that not all premises provide bins.

Kilkenny made it into the top ten towns in the 2008 Tidy Towns competition, scoring 299 out of a possible 500 points.