Cork County Council’s Annual Anti-Litter Challenge 2017

Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Declan Hurley, warmly welcomed the 2017 Cork County Council’s Annual Anti-Litter Challenge competitors to County Hall last night to celebrate their success.

The competition, now in its 21^st year, sees Tidy Towns groups and community organisations compete to keep their local environment clear of litter.  Unlike the Tidy Towns competition, the sole emphasis of this competition is on litter which provides an opportunity for all communities to compete on a level playing field.  Advantages conferred by areas of natural beauty and architectural importance in the Tidy Towns competition are not considered as part of the judging criteria of the Anti-Litter Challenge.  Therefore, communities who feel they may not have a chance in the Tidy Towns competition can still hope for success in the Anti-Litter Challenge.  Communities whose members are willing to walk the roads and pick up litter have a chance of winning.

The competition is divided between Towns and Villages. The judging took place in May and June. The top placed villages in each of the North, South, and West Divisions progressed through to the County Final for which judging took place in July.

Mayor Hurley, speaking of the event commented “Each year we see the challenge of litter control increasing due to a small minority who exhibit civic pride and each year we see the response of our communities expanding to meet this growing problem.  It is inspiring to see communities come together year after year to tackle this challenge and the results are increasingly impressive.  This year, for example, certain villages were awarded maximum scores during a judging period, which means that not one single piece of litter was found during the visit. This takes a massive community effort to achieve, and I commended you all for it.”

All participating communities were invited to attend the Annual Awards night where prizes are awarded to the winners of the three Towns Categories as well as to the winner of the Villages’ County Final.  Additionally, the best improver from both town and village categories was announced on the night.

Cork County Council depends on the voluntary efforts of communities in the fight against litter and to reflect this there has been an increase in prize money this year of 23% .  The Council spent in excess of €3.6 million on litter management and street cleaning in 2016.  Money thatcould be invested on roads, housing, playgrounds etc, were it not for the level of littering that occurs.

Over 100 communities competed this year and the winners were:-