Galway has risen to ninth place in a national litter survey that has again classified the city as Cleaner than European Norms — the highest category possible.

Adjudicators described it as “an exceptionally good result”, pointing out that not only did fifteen out of twenty sites surveyed get the top litter-free grade, there were no heavily littered sites.

Galway City was ranked ninth out of 40 towns and cities in the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey, undertaken by An Taisce, an improvement of one place on the last report.

Ballybane, which is surveyed separate to the rest of the city, was classified as Littered and place 39th in the ‘litter league’.

The report shows that Galway City is one of only 10 places in Ireland to achieve the highest standard — a month after Galway Tidy Towns won a Gold Medal for the city centre area.

Galway City Council said that the high placing reflected ongoing work to tackle litter, including power washing of city centre streets; daily litter picks and street cleaning; solar powered, high-capacity bins; public water stations to refill bottles; and initiatives including Green-Schools, Clean Coasts, bulky goods collections, and community clean-ups.

The local authority thanked all the volunteers across Galway and its own litter crew for taking such pride in the city.

“The result is no surprise to Galway City Council, where our staff continue to work with communities across the city on litter prevention and reduction initiatives including regular Community Clean Ups and Spring Clean,” Fergal Cushen, Environmental Awareness Officer with the council, said.

The Council’s partnerships with local and national groups such as Clean Coasts ensured there were strong networks of volunteers who took great pride in the city.

He praised the “great work our Litter Management Unit do every day in our city — starting their day at 5am and continuing their work throughout the morning and afternoon, ensuring the city streets are clean and well maintained every day”.

Mr Cushen added: “Tackling litter is an ongoing collaborative effort which couldn’t be achieved without the dedication of local businesses, volunteer groups, schools and residents. Congratulations to all in making Galway a cleaner city for the next generation.”

Galway City Council runs regular on-the-ground and media campaigns targeting challenging litter areas in the city centre and beyond, he said.

It is currently working with CuriOcean CLG — a Galway-based charity focused on marine conservation — and the University of Galway on a public litter study which aims to provide innovative litter solutions across the city, with a particular focus on peak periods in Salthill.

“Another vindication of the great collaborative work done in the past year was the winning of the gold medal award for Galway Tidy Towns. This would not have been possible without the joint collaboration of the Tidy Towns Committee with Galway City Council and local businesses,” said Mr Cushen.

Pictured: Glenard Park in Salthill: a ‘lovely community park’ according to the IBAL report..