Minister of State for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Ossian Smyth, on the 11th of July, announced the publication of the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System (NLPMS) results for 2023. The System was developed by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and TOBIN in consultation with local authorities. Under the System, local authorities carry out surveys to determine the extent, composition and causes of litter pollution in their areas. The data obtained from the System enables local authorities to provide more effective litter management planning for their areas, to assess the effectiveness of their litter management strategies and to ensure the optimum allocation of its resources to tackle litter. It provides vital information on the national picture regarding litter pollution.
The 2023 NLPMS Report was prepared by TOBIN in our role as the Litter Monitoring Body. The 2023 NLPMS results can be summarised as follows:
- The percentage of unpolluted (LPI 1) areas in 2023 was 21.5%.
- The percentage of slightly polluted (LPI 2) areas in 2023 was 56.8%.
- The percentage of moderately polluted (LPI 3) areas in 2023 was 15.5%.
- The percentage of significantly polluted (LPI 4) areas in 2023 was 5.8%.
- The percentage of grossly polluted areas (LPI 5) in 2023 was 0.5%.
- The percentage of unpolluted (LPI 1) and slightly polluted (LPI 2) areas combined has decreased by 1.8% from 2022 to 2023, thus demonstrating that there has been an increase in litter pollution from 2022 to 2023.
Cigarette-related litter (45.6%), packaging items (19.9%), food-related litter (9.9%) and sweet-related litter (8.3%) were the main litter constituents identified nationally.
Passing pedestrians (42.3%), passing motorists (20.2%), retail outlets (8%) and gathering points (6.3%) were identified as the main causative factors of litter nationally.
The 2023 NLPMS Report is available at: gov – Minister Smyth announces the publication of the 2023 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System results (www.gov.ie)
For more information on the NLPMS please contact Allison Murphy (allison.murphy@tobin.ie), Brian Mc Donnell (brian.mcdonnell@tobin.ie) or Oonagh Fleming (oonagh.fleming@tobin.ie).
