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1. 26 September 2016) announced the publication of the 2015 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System Report.  The Report provides data on the extent, causes and composition of litter in Ireland.  It shows cigarettes and chewing gum are the main items littering our streets.

In announcing the publication of the 2015 Report, the Minister acknowledged the important role being played by local authorities and local communities in tackling Ireland’s litter problem.  The Minister noted the mainly encouraging results and said that he was generally pleased with the progress made to date though challenges remain in grossly polluted locations in disadvantaged urban areas. 

“While the Litter Pollution Report demonstrates year on year that Ireland is improving its environment with respect to litter, it is imperative that people play their part in keeping their road, neighbourhood and county litter free, or reducing the litter problem where it exists. It is about having pride in our communities and taking personal responsibility for our actions.”

In summary the 2015 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System Report reveals:

• Cigarette related litter (59.8%), food related litter (gum) (12.4%), packaging litter (11.95%), sweet related litter (7.22%) and were identified as the main constituents of litter nationally.

Causative Factors

• Passing pedestrians (40.1%), passing motorists (18.1%), retail outlets (10.4%), places of leisure and entertainment (5.1%), gathering points (7.9%), schools/school children (5.3%) and fast food outlets (4.4%) were identified as the main causative factors of litter nationally.

The Minister complimented groups active in the fight against litter pointing out that “while my Department provides funding for various initiatives, including the annual An Taisce National Spring Clean, it is the efforts made by local authorities, community and business groups which are telling at local level. Today (Monday26^th) I am launching a nationwide schools’ campaign called Bin It to educate and raise student awareness of littering. ‘Bin It’ is a key element of the Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) education campaign which includes outdoor poster, TV and online advertising.”

The launch in Castlerea Community School, Roscommon announces plans for an actor-led workshop for secondary schools across 26 local authority areas. The workshop is geared towards first year students and explores littering and social responsibility. This is the 10th year of the ‘Bin it!’ campaign and to date over 39,218 students have taken part, with 6,324 attending the workshop in 2015 alone.

Summary 2015 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System Report:

• There has been an increase in the number of areas surveyed deemed to be litter free from 12.3% in 2014 to 16.4% in 2015, the highest level ever achieved;
• 62.8% of all areas surveyed were slightly polluted, a decrease of 1.6% on 2014 levels;
• The percentage of areas deemed to be moderately polluted fell by 3.2% to 19.9% when compared to 2014 results for the same category;
• The percentages of significantly polluted and grossly polluted areas both increased with changes in each case of 0.6% and 0.1% respectively when compared to 2014 results;

A more detailed analysis of the System Report data is attached at Appendix 1, together with a Note to Editors which explains key elements of the system.

Appendix 1

National Litter Pollution Monitoring System

The national monitoring system measures 3 key indicators of the litter problem – the extent,

main causes and main constituents of litter pollution nationwide.  Measuring changes in these

indicators over time enables local authorities to determine the effectiveness of their litter

management strategies and ensure the optimum allocation of resources to tackle litter.  Thus,

the main purpose of the system is to measure trends in the key indicators, allowing progress in

tackling litter pollution at local and national levels to be measured.

Extent of Litter Pollution

Under the national monitoring system, the extent and severity of litter pollution is measured by

using a Litter Pollution Index (LPI), which is a scale of 1 to 5 as described below:

1. Unpolluted or litter free
2. Slightly polluted
3. Moderately polluted
4. Significantly polluted
5. Grossly polluted

Figure 2‑1                Comparison of Litter Pollution Indices (LPI) 2014 – 2015

Figure 2.1 compares 2014 and 2015 litter pollution survey results. From this we can see:

• 16.4% of areas surveyed were litter free, the highest level ever and an increase of 4.1% on 2014 results.
• 62.8% of areas surveyed were slightly littered, a decrease of 1.6% on 2014.
• The percentage of moderately polluted areas has fallen by 3.2% to 16.7%.
• The percentage of significantly polluted areas has increased marginally by 0.6% to 3.6% when compared to 2014 data.
• The percentage of grossly polluted areas increased to 0.1% in 2015 from 0.3% in 2015.

Prescribed standards for each category of LPI have been circulated to all local authorities to

ensure a consistent approach nationwide to measuring the extent of litter pollution in the

surveyed areas.

A key feature of the national monitoring system is its focus on monitoring in areas that are

polluted or are likely to be polluted i.e. where potential sources of litter are located.  To this

end, local authorities determine the locations for their surveys using maps produced by

specially designed Litter GIS software, as follows:

• 40% in “high risk” locations (e.g. in town or city centres) where the concentration of potential litter sources is greatest;
• 40% in random potential litter generating areas - chosen by the Litter GIS software;
• 20% in locations chosen by local authorities, based on local knowledge of litter pollution.

Accordingly, the national monitoring system is biased towards measuring the nature and

extent of litter pollution in those areas most likely to be littered; it will measure trends in these

key indicators over time.   The System provides a reliable overview from which trends and

conclusions can be drawn.

Causative Factors of Litter Pollution

The main causative factors of litter pollution identified in the litter pollution surveys were as

follows:

• passing pedestrians, (40.1%), constitute the greatest single causative factor of litter
• passing motorists (18.1%), decreased as a causative factor by 0.6% from 18.7% in 2014.
• retail outlets, places of leisure/entertainment, schools/schools children, fly tipping/dumping, bring banks, bank/ATM, construction sites and major entertainment events have all increased as causative factors of litter pollution.
• Passing motorists, gathering points, fast food outlets, bus and train stations, bus stops, bus and train stations and overflowing bins have all decreased as causative factors over the same period

Litter Composition

Local authorities also carried out litter quantification surveys (or item counts) to determine the

composition of litter in their areas.   A breakdown of the main constituents of litter pollution is

highlighted in Figure 3.1 overleaf:

Figure 3.1 Composition of Litter in 2015 Broken Down into Main Categories

From this data it can be seen that:

• Cigarette related litter, continues to constitute the highest percentage (59.76%) of litter nationally, an increase of 5.13% on 2014 figures – this is comprised mainly of cigarette ends which constitute 55.38% of all litter items.
• Food related litter, at 12.4%, a decrease of 3.85% on 2014 results, is the second largest category of litter pollution recorded.  
• Chewing gum is the single largest litter component in the food related litter category, and also the second largest component nationally, comprising 11.24% of all litter recorded in the litter quantification surveys carried out in 2015, this represents a decrease of 3.79% on the 2014 figure.
• Packaging litter at 11.95%, an decrease of 0.47% on 2014 results, is the third largest component of national litter pollution recorded. 

A more detailed analysis of the litter pollution and quantification surveys data is available in

the Report. The full 2014 System Results Report will be made available on the Department’s

website www.environ.ie and on www.litter.ie

NOTE TO EDITORS

1. Tobin Consulting Engineers were appointed by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government as the Litter Monitoring Body (LMB) in May 1999 to develop a national litter pollution monitoring system and oversee local authority implementation of it.  The main purpose of the monitoring system is to generate, by means of surveys, reliable data to enable each local authority to measure accurately over time changes in the extent and composition of litter pollution in its area, and so provide for more effective litter management planning.

2. In essence, the system requires local authorities to:

• identify / map the potential sources of litter in their areas,

• use this data to identify the locations for surveys to determine the composition and extent of litter pollution in their areas,

• carry out further series of surveys annually thereafter, the results of which can be compared to the "benchmark" or previous years’ survey results to measure progress in tackling litter, and  complete the appropriate forms for the surveys and forward same to the LMB for analysis / assessment.

• reports back to each local authority with its assessment of that authority’s survey data, and

• collates the survey results in a national overview and presents it to the Department.

• Litter Pollution surveys to determine the extent and severity of litter pollution.

• Litter Quantification surveys to identify the composition (i.e. the type and origin) of litter pollution prevailing in a particular area.

• cigarette related litter
• packaging litter (i.e. takeaway, glass, metal, paper, plastic)
• food litter
• paper litter (e.g. bank slips, bus tickets, newspapers, magazines etc.)
• plastic litter (i.e. non packaging litter e.g. plastic cutlery, toys etc.)
• deleterious litter (e.g. dog fouling, nappies, needles, syringes etc.)
• bulky litter (e.g. household appliances, furniture, etc.)
• sweet related litter
• miscellaneous litter (i.e. items not covered by the other categories e.g. twine, clothes, fabrics etc.)

• the extent and severity of litter pollution in each local authority area,
• the types, most likely sources and causes of litter,
• the changes in litter levels from location to location and over time,
• the location of litter black spots, and
• the impact of new anti-litter measures.

8. providing a framework for consistent and accurate self-assessment by local authorities.