CHEWING GUM accounted for almost a third of all litter last year and passing pedestrians were the most frequent cause of litter, the latest national litter report finds.
The 2008 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System report, published today by Minister for the Environment John Gormley, finds however there have been “big improvements” in litter levels generally.
There has been an increase in “litter-free” areas from 5.1 per cent in 2007 to 6.6 per cent last year.
“Moderately and significantly polluted areas decreased by 4.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively,” the report says. There was also a decrease in grossly polluted areas from 0.7 per cent in 2007 to 0.5 per cent in 2008.
Mr Gormley, speaking in advance of the report publication, welcomed it saying the results represented “the highest level of cleanliness achieved since monitoring began”.
The surveys have been carried out by Tobin Consulting Engineers since their inception in 1999 by the department. Their main purpose is to generate reliable data so each local authority can measure changes in littering levels and assess the effectiveness of their litter management.
The main reason for litter identified was passing pedestrians, accounting for 37.6 per cent across all local authorities. Pedestrians are followed by people in passing vehicles throwing rubbish out the window. This group accounted for 17.6 per cent of rubbish.
