The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, Denis Naughten, has published the 2015 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System Report, produced by TOBIN Consulting Engineers through our role as the Litter Monitoring Body.
This report provides data on the extent, the cause and indeed the types of litter found in Ireland.
This report finds that cigarette-related litter accounted for nearly 60% of all litter recorded for 2015, this mainly comprises of cigarette ends. Chewing gum was the single largest litter component in the food-related litter category in 2015, and also the second largest component nationally, comprising 11.24% of all litter recorded for 2015.
This report also highlights that passing pedestrians dropping litter continues to be the largest causative factor of litter pollution throughout Ireland.
The 2015 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System Report concludes that the percentage of unpolluted (LPI 1) areas increased from 12.3% in 2014 to 16.4% in 2015. This is the largest percentage of unpolluted areas ever recorded by the System.
The 2015 National Litter Pollution Monitoring System Report can be found at:
