Louth County Council welcome improvement in IBAL ranking

Louth County Council have praised the collaboration with voluntary groups in Dundalk and Drogheda following a significant improvement for both towns in the Irish Business’ Against Litter (IBAL) League.

The first national litter survey of 2024 saw Drogheda jump four places to 20th in the litter league and retain the ‘Clean to European Norms’ status. 

Dundalk has climbed the rankings to 30th place, up nine from last year, and improved the rating from ‘Littered’ to ‘Moderately Littered.’ 

In Drogheda IBAL judges visited ten locations across the town, awarding six Grade A’s, three Grade B’s and one Grade C.

The marked improvement in Drogheda’s scoring has seen the town climb 19 places from its ranking of 39th only two years ago when it was deemed seriously littered. 

In the intervening two years Louth County Council says it has worked with the Drogheda Tidy Towns group, BIDS (Love Drogheda) and TUS to form a team that is improving the image and cleanliness of Drogheda.

In Dundalk, there was praise from visiting IBAL judges for the ‘significant improvement’ on the 2023 survey.

Ten sites across Dundalk were surveyed in the litter league report, with five of these receiving Grade A status, and a further two being awarded Grade B+. Louth County Council have an issue with one private site that was marked down, which affected the overall marks awarded to Dundalk, and have raised the matter with IBAL.

This was the first of two annual surveys by IBAL since the introduction of the Government’s Deposit Return Scheme, and it was noted there was a fall in cans and plastic bottles on streets across the country, contributing to an overall improvement in litter levels.

Joan Martin, Chief Executive, Louth County Council welcomed the IBAL results.

“These are very encouraging results for both Drogheda and Dundalk, with both towns having shown real improvement in their litter league ranking and receiving positive feedback. 

"I want to praise council staff and outdoor crews for all their work to improve public spaces and streetscapes. I would also like to thank the voluntary organisations across Louth who have contributed greatly to the upkeep of their local communities and helped to reduce littering in our towns.”