IBAL honours Trim, calls for tax break on degradable chewing gum
IBAL honours Trim, calls for tax break on degradable chewing gum.
Trim has been announced as the cleanest town in Ireland at a ceremony in Dublin, pipping Swords and Killarney in the 2011 survey of litter levels in 53 towns and cities by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).
It’s the first time that Trim – officially litter free since 2005 – has won the IBAL Litter League. The Co. Meath town was one of nine to collect a Sustained Excellence award for being litter free for five years in a row, the others being Killarney, Cavan, Youghal, Fermoy, Castlebar, Ballina, Monaghan and Dundalk.
An Taisce, which conduct the litter surveys, commented in its report on Trim: “The hard work has paid off and the citizens should appreciate what has been achieved. All sites surveyed got the top litter grade. The approach routes were particularly well presented and this very high standard was sustained for all sites surveyed in Trim.”
To mark its success, the town will receive a number of trees for planting locally. These are provided by the Irish Tree Centre, an IBAL member based in County Cork (www.treecentre.ie).
At the ceremony, Prof. Dr Elke Arendt of University City College Cork hailed advancements made in degradable chewing gum, which, unlike conventional gum, decomposes when deposited on pavements.
IBAL Chairman Dr Tom Cavanagh spoke of such a breakthrough as “a potentially critical milestone in urban litter prevention, and one that needs to be accelerated by a favourable tax policy, be it a tax exemption on the degradable product, or a higher tax on conventional gum.”
The 2011 IBAL Litter League results can be viewed at www.ibal.ie
Cullen Communications handles PR for Irish Business Against Litter.
