Find out which Tipperary town has lost its clean status in latest litter survey
One of Tipperary’s major towns has lost its clean status, in a “disappointing” result, according to the latest survey carried out by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).
The IBAL survey found that Clonmel had slid down the rankings for 2025, coming in as moderately littered, losing the clean status it held the previous year.
The south Tipperary town slid from 22nd place to 36th place out of 40 cities and towns across the country, and was deemed “moderately littered” by An Taisce, who carry out the survey on behalf of IBAL.
“With just two top ranking sites out of a total of ten sites surveyed, this has been a disappointing drop for Clonmel. The presence of three heavily littered sites will always bring down a town’s ranking,” they said.
The Dungarvan Road, the Mountain View residential area and the bottle bank at the West Gate Car Park were all heavily littered, according to the report.
On the Dungarvan Road, the report found that the level of litter was “quite pronounced,” particularly around the Applegreen service station.
"The most obvious items were fast-food wrappers, mineral cans, sweet papers and plastic bottles, with lower levels of alcohol cans and other food related items.
"A small industrial area with sheds etc. presents poorly and appears to be attracting litter – if not addressed, it’s likely that to be a magnet for further littering,” they added.
At the bottle bank in the West Gate Car Park, the report said that the maintenance of the bottle bank was poor.
"The general maintenance appears poor – based on the items in the immediate environs.
"As well as heavy levels of alcohol bottles and sweet wrappers and lower levels of cigarette butts, coffee cups and sweet wrappers, there was a pile of debris to the left of the units – items included a large orange barrier, clothing and other items. This facility needs attention,” they said.
The Mountain View estate had some good points, such as “lovely low-lying planting, and an old boat had been re-adopted as a large planter box,” but “loose litter scattered along the paving,” and “a corner wall area (with heavy graffiti), [and] a recessed area with electricity type box and the grassy area at the entrance to the estate,” had significant accumulations of litter.
However, there were two areas in Clonmel that received IBAL’s top grade – the Poppyfield Retail Park, and the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) at the Tesco Extra in Powerstown.
"Poppyfield Retail Park was one of two top-ranking sites – this wasn’t just very good with regards to litter but exceptionally freshly presented and maintained, with an area dedicated to ‘Managed for Biodiversity’,” the report added.
The Tesco Extra Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) area was “in very good order, with a complete absence of litter in the immediate environs”.
O’Connell Street was found to be relatively clean and well presented.
"The area was enhanced by large wooden planter boxes – a welcome feature along any main shopping street environment. Litter items present included cigarette butts, coffee cups, fast-food wrappers and sweet papers,” the report found.
Toibin Quay was close to the top mark, the report found, with some “lovely blueway signage along this riverwalk. Seating, signage, railings were all in good order,” the report found, but campfire remnants and associated debris along the walkway detracted from the area’s overall grade.
The Irishtown Car Park was also close to the top marks, but “there were too many small scrappy pieces of litter, particularly around the perimeter of the car park,” the report found.
Items found here include cigarette butts, sweet papers and coffee cups.
Both the Denis Bourke Park and Clonmel Town Football Club scored highly in the 2025 report, with the football grounds being “ well presented and maintained”.
The majority of the litter here consisted of plastic bottles, with An Taisce suggesting that the club takes part in the DRS as a form of fundraising, and a way to keep litter to a minimum.
"Perhaps the club could consider the deposit return scheme as a form of fund-raising? This has been done in other clubs / facilities around the country,” they noted.
Conor Horgan from IBAL said that good progress was being made nationwide, and that 2026 could be a “landmark year” in the fight against litter.
"The most pleasing finding of 2025 was the progress made in socially disadvantaged areas. Even areas at the foot of our rankings have significantly lower litter levels than a year ago.
"This could be a landmark year in the fight against litter,” Mr Horgan added.
The DRS was having a significant impact on the amount of plastic bottles and cans on the streets, the report found, with coffee cups being one of the most common forms of litter seen in towns and cities across Ireland.
"Without Government intervention, coffee cups will remain an unsightly and entirely unnecessary blot on the landscape across our towns,” Mr Horgan said.