Litter survey’s ‘poor first impressions’ of Salthill

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – A nationwide coastal litter survey had a “poor first impression” of Salthill because of overflowing bins, coffee cups, fast-food wrappers and discarded toys.

They Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey of beaches, harbours and rivers has classified Salthill beach and its environs as ‘littered’ – it has lost its ‘clean’ status from a similar survey two years ago when the area was reported to be in ‘excellent’ condition.

Litter monitoring was carried out by the Education Unit of environmental and heritage watchdog An Taisce in June and July and locations were branded ‘clean to European norms’, ‘moderately littered’, ‘littered’ or ‘heavily littered’.

The report found: “The first impression at Salthill was a poor one with overflowing litter bins and substantial fast-food or food-related litter on top of and at the base of street bins. A bag of rubbish had been left at the base of another bin.

“Along the beach, the main items were coffee cups, fast-food litter and sweet wrappers, along with several clothing items. Other discarded items included plastic toys and food utensils.

“There were accumulations of cigarette butts in the car-parking areas – perhaps the installation of more facilities for the disposal of same could help,” the report reads.
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.