Huge leap in litter league standings for Tullamore

Tullamore has performed exceptionally well in the first of this year's IBAL litter leagues, moving up more than 20 places compared to the previous two results. Tullamore was judged 23rd out of 53 towns and rated "clean to European norms". In 2009, Tullamore came 44th and was rated "moderately littered" and in the round before that at the end of 2008, came 54th out of 55 towns, rated "seriously littered". Chairman of Tullamore Tidy Towns is Tommy McKeigue. "In 2004 we were the litter blackspot of Ireland but now we've made a huge jump," he said. "The challenge now is to maintain it and get to the top. There was a huge effort from everyone involved this year; the volunteers, the Credit Unions and the Tidy Estates. There was a huge interest in that this year and there's a fairly good prize fund, there's about 28 estates entered." He said that even though one or two spots were still marked down by judges, sometimes littering cannot be prevented. The public car park at Daingean Road was let down by the very poor state of the recycle facility, prompting the judges to ask was the council itself at fault. However, Mr McKeigue said that this littering was caused by people dumping unsuitable rubbish beside the bins, expecting it to be picked up by the council. He said that the Tidy Towns Committee and the town council will look at the possibility of putting CCTV into place at the recycling bins. The approach roads from the town bypass and Portlaoise had moderate levels of litter, according to judges. But he said that it was impossible to monitor the constant littering of fast food containers, which were thrown out of car windows on the roads leading out of town. Four of the ten sites surveyed in Tullamore were Clean to European Norms; Whitehall (residential area), Harbour Street, O'Connor Square and Kilbeggan Approach Road, the only approach road surveyed to get the top litter grade. Sacred Heart School was also moderately littered. But Tullamore performed better than other Midland towns Athlone and Portlaoise. "I'm very happy, we made a huge jump. We were out every Tuesday since April - and it's a small group, the biggest turnout was ten people," added Mr McKeigue. He also praised the Green Flag programme in primary schools, which helped to educate children about littering and illegal dumping. "The future is with them, that's the message we gave them," he added. Mr McKeigue also thanked the Sacred Heart School Transition Year students who made a donation to the Tidy Towns Committee in the past school year. Meanwhile, Tullamore residents are invited to submit photos by mobile phone of litter blackspots in their neighbourhood as part of a "litter twitter" campaign to alert local authorities to litter-ridden areas locally. Photos can be emailed to litterspotter.2010@twitpic.com