Mayo Litter Management Plan 2016-2019

The Mayo Litter Management plan 2016-2019 was published in December last. This new management plan replaces the previous 2011-2014 litter management plan. The plan establishes objectives for the prevention and management of litter, enforcement of respective litter laws in Mayo. The Mayo litter management plan is largely action based with partnership, prevention, enforcement and operations the main focal points. The main objectives is to achieve a marked reduction in the proliferation of litter thus attaining a cleaner environment for Mayo and its residents.

Cigarette related litter and packaging items account for over half of the litter collected in towns and villages in Mayo. This litter includes cigarette butts, box’s, wrappers, lighters and match’s. There is a common misconception that cigarette butts degrade naturally and does not constitute as littering. This could not be further from the truth. In reality cigarette butts can take many years to biodegrade and the filter itself may never degrade due to acetate being its primary component.

Litter Awareness Campaigns

The national tidy towns competition helps raise awareness with regard to littering nationally. There were 34 entrants in the competition from Mayo in 2016. Our own results here in Swinford have gradually been on the increase, from 196 in 1996 to 258 points in 2016.
“See it – Say it” App. The EPA created the APP in 2015 for photographing & reporting the location of illegal dumping by members of the public. The app is free to download. Details here.
Locally we have our own Tesco Swinford Clean Street league which is now in its 5th year.
We also take part in the annual National Spring Clean where we hold our own spring clean every Good Friday. Last year we took part for the first time in “Mayo Day” Clean Up Mayo campaign.
We also hold clean up days with the local national schools 5th & 6th class’s and the green schools committees.
In 2016 Swinford took part in the pilot Mayo Litter Action league for the first time. This is a new pilot programme which is part of the Cleaner Community Campaign.
Our own Mutt Mitts programme here in Swinford has been an outstanding success to date. The dog fouling problem was identified as a major problem in the 2012 community futures survey. Download the survey here. We first installed the Mutt Mitt dispencers in August 2014. Thanks to all the dog walkers, their use has increased year on year. In 2016 there were 4,900 mutt mitts used, an increase from 3,800 in 2015.

Download the full Mayo Litter Management Plan 2016-2019

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Michael

P.R.O. Swinford Tidy Towns. Committee meetings every Tuesday night at 8 in Gateway Hotel. Volunteers meet every Wednesday eve at 7pm (summertime) & every Saturday at 11am (all year) at No Name Club on Chapel St.

Mayo Litter Management Plan 2016-2019