News 

The 2020 Marine Litter Report found an average of 375 items of litter per 100 meters of beach surveyed, the environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful can reveal. This equates to a total of 18,767 items of litter recorded on the 12 beaches surveyed.

As was the case in 2019, plastics were the most commonly recorded items of litter, making up 67% of all litter counted. On average, 37 plastic drinks containers and 48 lids were found per 100 meters surveyed. Additionally, short pieces of string, cord and rope were found across the beaches, with an average of 70 lengths of string counted per survey.

Despite the significant challenges presented by COVID-19 there is room for optimism as this report shows that there has been a reduction in the amount of litter and in particular the amount of plastic recorded on Northern Ireland’s beaches from previous years. Speaking about the findings in the report, Chief Executive of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, Dr Ian Humphreys said;

‘This report once again demonstrates the continuing pollution of Northern Ireland’s seas and shores. Whilst it is welcome that we have seen an improvement, we cannot take any progress for granted and must ensure that we keep this downward trend going. There is no hiding place anymore for ignorance about the impact that litter is having on our beaches, seas and waterways. We need to see greater emphasis on behaviour change campaigns and also a stronger requirement on producers of our waste to take more proactive steps in helping pay for the cost of cleaning up our waste.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is grateful to all those who dedicate their valuable time to survey, record and remove litter from beaches in Northern Ireland. It is their dedication and work that makes all the difference in the battle against litter. But they cannot do this alone, we all need to play our part in tackling this problem’.

The surveys in Northern Ireland are funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and the data collected is fed into the International OSPAR Commission database to help in developing a global scientific understanding of this significant problem and to inform actions to address the issue.

Throughout 2020, while carrying out marine litter surveys, more people than ever before approached the surveying team and enquired about what they were doing, with many sharing their stories about how they have been inspired to do something about the litter on their local beaches. Although this report has found the lowest record of litter since the beginning of the surveys in 2012, perhaps due to the highly unusual circumstances of 2020, this trend would need to continue before we could be confident there has been a true positive change in marine litter pollution on our local beaches.

To support the reduction in marine litter within Northern Ireland, a new grants scheme has been set-up, making £175,000 available in 2021/22 for organisations and groups to avail of. The aim of the scheme is to help prevent marine litter entering our environment as well as removing this litter from coastal and riverine areas. This will help protect our waterways and marine areas, as well as improving marine biodiversity and the health and wellbeing of our communities. It is hoped the scheme will run for a further 3 years with up to £675,000 available by 2025. The scheme is funded by DAERA and will be administered by Live Here Love Here.

The Tackling Marine Litter Grants Scheme closes at 11am on Monday 27th September 2021. For further information, please visit the Live Here Love Here website.

In addition to this grants scheme, the Department has recently launched a Call for Evidence on a Plan to Eliminate Plastic Pollution in Northern Ireland. The Call for Evidence will seek responses from a wide range of stakeholders on the challenges and opportunities that exist in eliminating plastic pollution, as well as seeking examples of best practice and sources of expertise or evidence. The public Call for Evidence opened on 28th June 2021 and will run for a 14 week period until 5pm on 1st October 2021

You can read the full report at www.keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org.

A new report produced by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, brings up worrying signs regarding the issue of litter and dog fouling throughout the country during the pandemic.

The Cleaner Neighbourhoods report, which details the findings of the 2020 Northern Ireland Litter Survey, highlights an increase in the levels of litter and dog fouling and a continued decline in the ‘cleanliness’ of streets, Roads and Public Spaces.

Figures from the survey show that 18% of the transects surveyed were deemed to be an unacceptable standard for cleanliness. This represents an increase in the number sites failing to meet the grade in 2019.

Findings and Insights

• The presence of dog fouling across Northern Ireland increased significantly from 6% of transects surveyed in 2019 to 13% in 2020. This is the highest level of dog fouling since the beginning of the surveys in 2012.

• The most commonly observed item of litter on Northern Ireland’s streets and public spaces remains cigarette butts. These were found to appear across all land use types with 69% of surveyed areas having at least one cigarette butt present, although this was seen as high as 93% and 94% along primary and secondary retail transects.

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was recorded on 3% of all streets and open spaces surveyed. It can be estimated that at any one time there could be 5,272 gloves and 2,000 masks on our streets and open spaces.

• Rural roads remain disproportionately affected by litter when compared with residential, retail and recreational areas. 48% of rural roads failed to reach an acceptable standard for litter. This litter is clearly coming from people throwing it out of their cars. The survey found that 41% of rural roads had takeaway litter present, 66% had confectionary litter present and 89% of all rural roads had drink related litter present.

It is perhaps not surprising that litter and dog fouling levels have risen given that the cleaning spend for Northern Ireland has dropped by nearly a third in two years, from £45,million in 2017 to just £31 million in 2019.

Commenting on the report Dr Ian Humphreys, CEO of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said

Preventing littering requires all of us to do something. Government legislating to help end our dependence on single use items, people taking care to dispose of waste properly and businesses paying a fair share of the costs of cleaning up their packaging and cigarette butts are all needed to make a lasting difference.

We have a growing litter problem that we need to face up to as a community. The cost to our environment and public purse is too great a burden for us to bear. The pandemic has seen us care for the vulnerable in society. It is now time we extended that care for our vulnerable environment. As more people discover and enjoy the great outdoors we must all take our litter home or use the bins provided. To do anything else is to destroy what we hold dear.

You can read the full report at:

https://keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.knib.app/cgi-bin/generic?instanceID=48

In 2019, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful marine litter surveyors recorded an average of 508 pieces of litter per 100 meters of beach. This equates to an estimated 3.3 million items of litter on our coastline at any one time.

Plastic, not surprisingly makes up over 78% of the waste on Northern Ireland’s beaches, including many ‘single use’ items such as drinks bottles, food wrappers and broken pieces of plastic. In fact, such is the extent of the ‘plastic problem’ that 6 of the top 10 most common littered items on NI beaches were found to be derived from single-use plastics.

There were also many short pieces of string and rope, which may have originated from fishing activity.

One of the key indicators of the abundance, composition and trends of litter in the marine environment is the amount on beaches. The surveys of beach litter are carried out 4 times a year by trained volunteers across 11 ‘reference’ beaches around Northern Ireland’s coast. The surveys are funded by the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and all the data collected feeds into the OSPAR Commission database, helping with decision-making around marine litter in the North East Atlantic from Iceland to Portugal. OSPAR monitors litter on 100m stretches at over 70 beaches in the North-East Atlantic following common monitoring guidelines. The data is accessible to anyone and it is collected in the same way at every reference beach each year.

Commenting on the 2019 Report, Environment Minister Edwin Poots MLA - said;

“I welcome publication of the Marine Litter Report 2019 and acknowledge the excellent work that Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful do in partnership with my Department.

“This year’s report highlights the steady progress being made in tackling marine litter in Northern Ireland, leading to a cleaner, greener place to live. The figures reveal the stark reality of litter on our beaches, with over 22,000 pieces of litter collected across 11 beaches, with 78% of this made from single use plastic. It is a reminder of our continued fight against plastic pollution and its devastating consequences.

“We all want to see changes where we live and see a continuing reduction in the number of pieces of litter appearing in our waters and along our coastline. With summer upon us and an ease on coronavirus restrictions many of us may choose to holiday at home. However, I would remind people of the need to ‘leave no trace’, to take all their litter home with them and recycle it where they can. By adjusting our behaviours and acting responsibly we can all play our part in further driving down marine litter and making a day at the beach enjoyable for everyone, whilst also protecting our marine wildlife.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers who give up their time to carry out these surveys throughout the year, their invaluable work contributes to the ongoing success of the Marine Litter Report and the importance of looking after our own local beaches.”

Every reference beach is cleaned within two weeks of the survey by a range of volunteers from; families and local groups to schools and businesses. In 2019 nearly 600 volunteers got involved to help clean up the beaches, collecting over 540 bags of litter from the 11 reference beaches alone.

Jamie Miller, Local Environmental Quality Manager for Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful stated, “Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is grateful to all those who dedicate their valuable time to survey, record and remove litter from beaches in Northern Ireland. As the results of their invaluable work shows, the vast majority of litter on our beaches comes from single use plastics. Removing these items from beaches is a small step towards tackling a very large problem in our seas, which we are only just beginning to understand. We all have a role to play in tackling this hugely concerning environmental issue and can start by making small positive changes to our behaviours, such as avoiding single use plastic where possible, and always putting our rubbish in a bin.”

Since the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic people are taking extra steps to protect themselves. It is important that the public recognises that using Personal Protective Equipment comes with the responsibility of not just using it properly but also disposing of it in a way that doesn’t harm the environment and other members of the public. These items once used, need to be put in the appropriate bin.

You can read the full report at www.keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org/marinelitter

A new report produced by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, highlights the need to bank the gains in the fight against litter.

The Cleaner Neighbourhoods report, which analyses the findings of the 2019 Northern Ireland Litter Survey, provides some encouraging news, showing there were improvements in the levels of litter and dog fouling across Northern Ireland.

The report, which details the results from the 2019 survey period, states that 86% of the streets and public spaces surveyed were deemed to meet an acceptable standard for cleanliness, an improvement on the previous year's results. The levels of dog fouling across Northern Ireland were also found to have declined; in 2019 only 6% of the 1,100 streets, roads and open spaces surveyed had dog fouling present, compared with 10% during the 2018 survey.

The most commonly observed item of litter in Northern Ireland’s streets and public spaces was cigarette butts. These were found to appear across all land use types with 60% of surveyed areas having at least one cigarette butt present, although there were often many more. Drinks containers, including plastic bottles, cans and takeaway coffee cups, were also noted as a recurring issue, observed in 45% of all surveyed areas.

Further Room for Improvement

Although the report indicates a slight reduction in dog fouling levels, it was noted that dog fouling clusters or ‘hotspots’ are still a problem. Streets and public spaces that did have dog fouling present, were found to have had an increased likelihood of having multiple occurrences, with one recreational area surveyed having as many as 9 dog fouls present on a 50m stretch. This supports the idea that a failure to clean up dog fouling is influenced by ‘signalling’, i.e. the presence of dog fouling indicates to other owners that not clearing up after their pet is acceptable in the area.

Rural roads, whilst improving, are still a problem and are disproportionately affected by litter when compared to residential, recreational and retail areas. 24% of rural roads failed to reach an acceptable standard for litter. Rural roads suffer mostly from the presence of plastic bottles, cans and take away coffee cups with 82% of transects having at least one drink container present. This type of litter will almost always come from cars with passengers carelessly throwing their empty drinks out of the windows.

The impacts of Covid-19 have put additional pressures on Waste collections services throughout Northern Ireland. There is a need for everyone to act responsibly and ensure they are disposing of their waste in an appropriate manner.

Commenting on the report Dr Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said

"We welcome that we have seen improvements last year in the fight against litter and now is not the time to take our foot off the peddle. Littering, no matter how small, damages our environment and hurts public health. The message is clear, disposing of our waste properly protects our vulnerable environment, just as it protects vulnerable key workers and public health. Working together, all sections of government and the community, we can all play our part in making a difference".

The Northern Ireland Litter survey is a country wide survey that is carried out by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful to assess the quality and cleanliness of our public spaces. The objective of the survey is to benchmark the cleansing performance of the councils by rating them against the same scale, thus ensuring a fair comparison. The results of the survey also provide a picture of the levels of different kinds of litter across Northern Ireland, how these vary by area, and how littering trends are varying over time.

The report concludes with a number of recommendations that Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful believe are necessary to meaningfully reduce littering, dog fouling and related environmental damage to Northern Ireland.

You can read the full report at: https://keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.knib.app/keepnorthernirelandbeautiful/documents/007934.pdf

ENDS

To speak to a press spokesperson or for more information please contact Jamie Miller, Local Environmental Quality Manager for Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful at: Jamie.miller@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org T: 07725262248

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, has released a report funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), that demonstrates that litter remains at concerning levels in NI – damaging our forests, parks, beaches and streets.

The Litter Composition Report estimates 1,294,164 items are littered on our streets at any one time, weighing approximately 28 tonnes and costing the public purse £45 million annually in Northern Ireland.

According to the report, a significant amount of the litter found contained plastic - 71% is made up of cigarette butts, plastic bottles, confectionary and crisp wrappers. Plastic never breaks down and forms harmful micro-plastics which enter our ecosystem. The second most common category was metals at 14.5%, which was mostly made up of non-alcoholic drinks packaging at 9.7%.

Agriculture and Environment Minister, Edwin Poots, stated: “My Department is actively engaged in protecting and valuing our precious landscape, so it can be enjoyed by everyone. Those who engage in littering are not valuing our landscape and these actions have a negative impact that is felt across Northern Ireland. This Litter Composition Report shows that the amount of litter in our environment and entering the eco-system is still a real issue, and the findings will help to identify ways to address this. My Department, in partnership with Councils and NGOs, such as Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, is using a combined approach of legislation, education, awareness and enforcement to tackle and improve the litter issue in Northern Ireland. We are also working towards Northern Ireland’s first Environment Strategy which will play a key role in setting Northern Ireland’s environmental priorities for coming decades.”

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and DAERA commissioned the independent litter compositional analysis to alert both the general public and business community to the seriousness of the situation – no similar study has been conducted in Northern Ireland to date.

Dr Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful comments: “This is the first ever NI Litter Composition Report – and the root problems are clear. We need to tackle the fact that one in three people openly admit to littering*. We must also share the responsibility for litter that is being created through increased ‘convenience’ packaging.”

At Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful we invest in litter prevention awareness through our Live Here Love Here campaign.

#TacklingPlasticNI

Click on the link below to view full Litter Composition Report 2019/20.

In 2018, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful marine litter surveyors recorded 625 pieces of litter per 100 meters of beach - the highest average since the surveys began in 2012. Plastic, not surprisingly makes up over 78% of the waste on the beaches including many ‘single use’ items such as drinks bottles, food wrappers and broken pieces of plastic. There were also many short pieces of blue string and rope, which are likely to have come from the fishing industry.

The surveys are carried out 4 times a year by trained volunteers across ten ‘reference’ beaches around our coasts. The surveys are funded by the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and all the data collected feeds into the OSPAR Commission Database helping with decision-making around marine litter in the North East Atlantic from Iceland to Portugal. The data is accessible to anyone and at every reference beach it is collected in the same way at the same time of the year.

Commenting on the 2018 Report, David Small - Head of DAERA Environment, Marine and Fisheries Group said, “I would like to thank and congratulate Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and their network of volunteers on the marvellous work they have been doing to address the problem of marine litter pollution.

Marine litter pollution is a massive problem and one which can only be addressed by everyone playing their part. It is crucial that we continue to find ways to ensure our lifestyle choices don’t impact negatively on the environment, and the resources we depend on such as water, air, food and energy.”

Every one of the reference beaches are cleaned within two weeks of the survey by a range of volunteers from families and local groups to schools and businesses.

Nearly 3000 volunteers are involved in cleaning up the reference beaches, and they have collected over 1 million pieces of litter (December 2018) and over 5000 bags of litter have been removed.

Dr. Berman from Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful stated, “Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful may be on the cover of the Marine Litter Report, but it is the volunteers and groups who not only record every piece of litter on the beach but also clean up too making out beaches better places for everyone”

There is a surge of interest in people wanted to get out and clean up their local areas. Doing good feels good and doing good together feels even better. There are many amazing groups out there and people are thinking more about using a refillable bottle and taking their own home made packed lunch to work or school to reduce their waste.

We have beautiful beaches in Northern Ireland. There are many dedicated people who help keep them that way. Why not come out and join them or sign up to adopt a spot near you? Everywhere is connected to the sea so you can make a difference by acting local.

You can read the full report at www.keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org.

ENDS

To speak to a press spokesperson or more information please contact Dr Jade Berman, Local Environmental Quality & Business Development Manager for Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful at: jade.berman@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org T: 028 90736920

In 2018, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful marine litter surveyors recorded 625 pieces of litter per 100 meters of beach - the highest average since the surveys began in 2012. Plastic, not surprisingly makes up over 78% of the waste on the beaches including many ‘single use’ items such as drinks bottles, food wrappers and broken pieces of plastic. There were also many short pieces of blue string and rope, which are likely to have come from the fishing industry.

The surveys are carried out 4 times a year by trained volunteers across ten ‘reference’ beaches around our coasts. The surveys are funded by the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and all the data collected feeds into the OSPAR Commission Database helping with decision-making around marine litter in the North East Atlantic from Iceland to Portugal. The data is accessible to anyone and at every reference beach it is collected in the same way at the same time of the year.

Commenting on the 2018 Report, David Small - Head of DAERA Environment, Marine and Fisheries Group said, “I would like to thank and congratulate Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and their network of volunteers on the marvellous work they have been doing to address the problem of marine litter pollution.

Marine litter pollution is a massive problem and one which can only be addressed by everyone playing their part. It is crucial that we continue to find ways to ensure our lifestyle choices don’t impact negatively on the environment, and the resources we depend on such as water, air, food and energy.”

Every one of the reference beaches are cleaned within two weeks of the survey by a range of volunteers from families and local groups to schools and businesses.

Nearly 3000 volunteers are involved in cleaning up the reference beaches, and they have collected over 1 million pieces of litter (December 2018) and over 5000 bags of litter have been removed.

Dr. Berman from Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful stated, “Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful may be on the cover of the Marine Litter Report, but it is the volunteers and groups who not only record every piece of litter on the beach but also clean up too making out beaches better places for everyone”

There is a surge of interest in people wanted to get out and clean up their local areas. Doing good feels good and doing good together feels even better. There are many amazing groups out there and people are thinking more about using a refillable bottle and taking their own home made packed lunch to work or school to reduce their waste.

We have beautiful beaches in Northern Ireland. There are many dedicated people who help keep them that way. Why not come out and join them or sign up to adopt a spot near you? Everywhere is connected to the sea so you can make a difference by acting local.

You can read the full report at www.keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org.

ENDS

To speak to a press spokesperson or more information please contact Dr Jade Berman, Local Environmental Quality & Business Development Manager for Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful at: jade.berman@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org T: 028 90736920

Today Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful launches its manifesto for the upcoming local government elections. The manifesto outlines specific proposals to help each council make improves in their local area over the next four years. This year we have put an emphasis on environmental education, community engagement and improving environmental standards.

Speaking about the launch of the manifesto, our Chief Executive Ian Humphreys said;

“Our aim is to continue changing behaviours across Northern Ireland. We have always worked incredibly well with councils in tackling key issues such as littering, dog fouling and public attitudes towards our environment. There has been a lot of progress since 2014, but we still have some distance to go. We need to go further and at a faster rate than we have in the past. The proposals our organisation launches today are another important stepping stone towards the better society that we want to build.”

He added;

“I am asking every candidate standing for election, to back our five positive policies for the next term of office. If each council can implement these five key asks then we will be able to achieve some important environmental improvements by 2023. At this stage for our climate, change simply cannot wait”

If you would like more information please contact, Ian Humphreys, Tel 90736920, Email; ian.humphreys@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org

Rostrevor was the scene of an historic moment last month, as volunteers for Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful carried out a clean-up on the town’s beach and lifted the millionth piece of litter that the environmental charity has counted across the ten beaches that they survey nationwide.

The organisation has been carrying out these surveys since 2012, using a well-trained group of dedicated volunteers to assess the levels of marine litter washed up on some of our best loved and most iconic beaches. Once the litter count is complete, another team of volunteers then follow in behind and bag it all up, ensuring that our beaches are kept as clean as possible while also allowing relevant data to be gathered on the extent of the marine litter issue. These data are then used to publish their annual Marine Litter Report and are also uploaded to the OSPAR Commission’s database – a portal that receives data from a number of other countries in North East Europe. This information can then be used to develop policy and research potential solutions to the issue, which has come under intense public scrutiny within the last year.

Whilst one million pieces of litter may seem like a shocking figure for some, to others it is not at all surprising. Freddie Harris, the Cleaner Neighbourhoods Manager at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said, “We see a ridiculous amount of litter on some of our survey beaches. The number we have reached this month is obviously a big milestone, but it’s hard to be too pleased about it because it’s a clear sign that we’re not doing enough to combat the problem. We can collect data, write reports and inform policy makers as much as we like, but unless we also engage with the public in a way that energises them to change the way they act, we’re fighting a losing battle. We would ask everyone to think about their daily habits with regards to waste, whether it’s taking reuseable bags with them to the shops, or bringing their refillable mug to the café – we can all do our bit to help. The most worrying aspect of this for me is that if you look at the data from 2012 to 2017, 79% of all the litter we’ve counted has been plastic. This is a material that never disappears from our environment – it just gets smaller and smaller until it works its way into the food chain and our drinking water. That can’t be healthy.”

The charity also announced that they have just received funding from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to run a programme that will specifically target Single Use Plastics, assessing their use in Northern Ireland and looking at ways in which that can be reduced to help address the overall issue of litter in our local environment.

ENDS//

To speak to a programme spokesperson, please contact Dr Ian Humphreys, CEO, at ian.humphreys@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org or on 028 90 736 920.

Council spending on cleaning streets, roads and open spaces has seen a significant increase of 5% during the last financial year, amounting to a total of £45,562,532 across Northern Ireland. This comes as a result of deploying extra resources to keep our streets clean. However, the practice of issuing Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) for dropping litter and dog fouling has dropped by 13% on last year. As such, there is a greater focus on cleaning up after litterers across the province rather than fining offenders in the first place.

The figures, which were gathered by environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful from Council financial statements and records of enforcement, show the true cost that litter passes on to all of us, despite being dropped by only a few. To put the spend figure into context, it’s almost half the amount spent on constructing the iconic Titanic Belfast museum, or the purchase cost of over 100,000 new street bins.

The money used to pay for the clean-up costs comes from our rates, with the average charge to every domestic rate payer in Northern Ireland sitting at just over £57 for last year.

This is particularly interesting given the amount of money being recovered in fines compared to the amount being spent on cleaning. The stand out performer here was Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, who managed to recoup 0.77% of the amount through the payment of Fixed Penalty Notices. This may seem a small number, but it was 37 times more than the Council who recovered the least through fines, thus showing potential to offset some of these costs to the ratepayer. The total raised by Fixed Penalty Notices to be set against the cost of cleansing was just £169,588, less than 0.5% of the total cost.

Dr Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said “Fining litterers is a part of the solution to the global problem of litter and with the real dangers of particularly plastic pollution now widely understood, there is no excuse for littering behaviour. Relying on the hard working Council street cleaning teams, and the army of volunteers who are dedicated to quietly cleaning up their local patch, is no longer acceptable. Thankfully, most people put their rubbish in the bin and many are joining Live Here Love Here and helping create cleaner, more responsible and prouder communities.”

Those penalised for dropping litter has decreased from 3,724 to 3,158 – a worrying trend considering the fact that we are spending more on the clean up operation. Surveys carried out by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful have shown that the percentage of our streets that failed to meet an acceptable standard has remained at 15% from last year. On a more positive note, however, the same surveys indicate that there has been a remarkable 7% rise in streets categorised as completely free of litter. Equally encouraging, more enforcement action has been taken to curb dog fouling on our streets.

Councils are also investing in anti-litter initiatives such as Live Here Love Here, a public engagement campaign supported by nine of the eleven Councils, the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, NI Housing Executive, Choice Housing, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.

The full 2017/18 Cleaner Neighbourhoods Report by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful will be published at the end of March.