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More resources than ever are being devoted to maintaining a clean and welcoming environment in Northern Ireland, according to the Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.

In a report published today, the environmental charity said that 2016-17 had seen a record £43Million spent on cleaning the streets. In response the year ahead will see nine of the eleven councils working together to tackle littering behaviour. Among other figures the charity highlighted was 233 groups ‘adopting a spot’ in order to keep it clean and inviting, and 24,500 children taking part in anti-litter education.

This intensification of efforts by Councils was welcomed by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful CEO, Dr Ian Humphreys, who said “The rising street cleaning bill, being met by ratepayers, is simply unsustainable. This is why many organisations are joining forces to change littering behaviour. Together we can begin to make a difference and this move is being supported by tens of thousands of volunteers who show they live here and love here through clean-ups. With over a third of the public admitting to littering we still have some way to go and so if we want a better place to live we all have to do our bit and get involved.”

While the year saw a slight rise in the percentage of places that were unacceptably littered, it also saw the biggest annual drop in the rates of dog fouling since their surveys began in 2008, and the highest percentage of spaces with no litter – not even a single cigarette butt – at 5%.

One of the surprising facts Dr Humphreys pointed out was that the availability of a bin appears to have little or no impact on the likelihood somewhere will suffer unacceptable littering: “Having a bin in sight in an area makes no statistical difference to how much litter ends up on the ground. This suggests that for many people bins are either deemed irrelevant or invisible. We need to change people’s mind-set so that they look for and use a bin, or take their rubbish home.”

The charity has made a number of recommendations that it believes would go a long way to achieving its vision of a cleaner country.

The charity says that fiscal measures should be explored further as part of a wider system of measures.

The development of programmes that reward desirable behaviour such picking up after your dog have been put forward as ways of preventing littering – like giving a vaccine rather than treating an illness.

Perhaps more controversially, the charity is suggesting that the government and Councils consider introducing American-style parking restrictions, where on-street parking is banned in a particular area for a few hours once a week to allow thorough cleaning; their surveys suggest that mechanical sweepers are regularly prevented from doing their job because of parked cars.

Dr Humphreys concluded “As the evenings lengthen and we look to spend more time outdoors we all want to enjoy spaces free of litter and dog fouling. To achieve this requires us all to do our bit and show we live here and really do love here.”

Northern Ireland’s eleven Councils spent a total of £43,285,212 on cleaning our roads, streets and open spaces in 2015-16; a rise of over 8% on spending during the previous year. This expression of serious intent to clean up our streets and parks has however been somewhat blunted by a fall of almost 20% in the number of people actually caught and fined for littering.

The figures, which were gathered by environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful from Council financial statements and records of enforcement, show how hard councils have to work to hold back a tide of unsightly and harmful litter. To put the figure in context that £43 Million would pay the annual salary of 1,995 newly qualified nurses. The total expected cost of the new build Royal Victoria Hospital Maternity Unit is £46.2 Million.

Dr Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said of the figures “Council staff work day and night to keep our streets clean but we spend more and more each year just to stand still. And research shows litter costs society the same again with losses to business and tourism and our health. That’s why most councils have now come together, with others, to deliver Live Here Love Here. This is building community pride and starting work on the real solution, which is to prevent litter being dropped in the first place.”

Many people will wonder where the money for street cleansing comes from, and the answer is that councils pay it from their rates, with the average annual charge to every rate payer in the country around £58.

At the other end of the bargain, the number of people actually caught littering has dropped by almost a fifth, from 4,443 to just 3,724. In addition, just 310 people were penalised for not clearing up after their dog last year. As Dr Humphreys points out “In a fair society the polluter would pay for the clean-up, but at this rate that would mean that the penalty for dropping a crisp packet would need to be over £10,000. Most people don’t drop litter. So we need to give the people who do litter a clear signal that their dirty, selfish behaviour is not acceptable. We all have a part to play in encouraging litterers to stop.”

The total raised by fixed penalties to be set against the cost of cleansing was just £191,530, less than half of one percent of the total cost.

The difference between Councils was stark, with over half of all fixed penalties issued in Belfast, but just 1% issued in Lisburn and Castlereagh. Dr Humphreys Welcomed Belfast’s approach, saying they had “grasped the nettle of penalising litterers for the good of everybody living and working within the Council area.”

Councils are also investing in anti-litter education initiatives such as Live Here Love Here, a media campaign supported by seven of the eleven councils, the Housing Executive and the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, as well as businesses like Coca-Cola and Choice Housing. Many Councils also run local initiatives directly in schools and communities.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is currently collating results of 1,100 surveys across the country to see if the additional money spent is having the desired effect and reducing the amount of litter on streets and in parks.

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Chris Allen, Local Environmental Quality Co-Ordinator

Chris.allen@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org

028 9073 6921

Note to Editors

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is an environmental charity working towards the vision of a beautiful Northern Ireland by inspiring people to take responsibility for creating cleaner, greener and more sustainable communities.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful runs a number of awareness raising campaigns including the BIG Spring Clean volunteering and public engagement campaign, the Clean Coast programme which supports coastal volunteering groups. The charity also runs the Seaside and Green Coast Awards, the international Blue Flag (for beaches and marinas) and Eco-Schools programmes all of which set environmental quality standards.

Live Here Love Here is supported by The Department of the Environment; Tourism Northern Ireland; Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Ards and North Down Borough Council, Belfast City Council; Derry City and Strabane District Council, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Mid and Est Antrim and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Choice Housing, the Housing Executive and Coca Cola.

Find out more about it at www.liveherelovehere.org/What-s-it-all-about.aspx

Figures used in this release

• Spending figures were collected from individual Council financial statements, which are available on Council websites

• FPN figures were provided by Councils in response to requests for the information

• A new nurse starting at band 5 on the pay scale will earn £21,692 pa. https://www.rcn.org.uk/employment-and-pay/nhs-pay-scales-2015-16

• The Royal Victoria Hospital estimated costs http://www.belfasttrust.hscni.net/pdf/1108__Annual_Report_14_to_15_final_copy_29_June2.pdf

• Cost to ratepayers based on projected figure of 744,800 households in Northern Ireland in 2015, source http://www.nisra.gov.uk/archive/demography/population/household/household_project.pdf

More resources than ever are being devoted to maintaining a clean and welcoming environment in Northern Ireland, according to the Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.

In a report published today, the environmental charity said that the last year had seen major milestones in the campaign against litter, with record numbers of school children receiving anti-litter education; record numbers of fixed penalties being issued for littering, and a record spend on street cleansing.

Environment Minister, Mark H Durkan MLA said, “I welcome the findings of this report and commend Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful for the valuable work they undertake to raise awareness of local environmental quality issues, whether that is by educating our children through the Eco-Schools programme, promoting a cleaner environment through the Live Here, Love Here campaign, or the other initiatives in which they are involved. The improvements highlighted in the report are encouraging and show the value of a multi-faceted approach. We do though have some way to go to eradicate the blight of litter and dog fouling in our towns and countryside and on our beaches. However, this report does show that central and local government, working in partnership with organisations such as KNIB, can make an impact. I am proud to have supported KNIB’s activities over a number of years and look forward to government continuing that partnership.”

This intensification of efforts by Councils was welcomed by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful CEO, Dr Ian Humphreys, who said “£40 million a year on street cleansing is an enormous cost but actually many hidden costs make the final bill far greater. For example, studies have shown that high levels of litter correlate with increased rates of depression and other mental health problems. The result is an estimated £15 million drained from already stretched NHS finances.”

During the academic year ending in June 2015 Northern Ireland became the first country in the world to have every school in the country registered with the Eco-schools programme, which has anti-littering and respect for the environment at its core.

A record number of Fixed Penalties Notices were issued for littering and dog fouling during 2014-15, the most recent period for which figures are available. However, the official figures highlight the postcode lottery for fixed penalties, with 49% being issued in Belfast, and a further 18% in Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon District.

Dr Humphreys continued “This shows how councils are prepared to take action against the minority of people who continue to go against what is normal and acceptable. These figures show people who litter that they are ever more likely to be caught and fined.

The charity also calls on other Statutory Undertakers such as the DRD Roads Service and Rivers Agency to match the efforts made by Councils, with litter on roadside verges and in streams frequently putting off tourists and businesses and hurting our economy. Dr Humphreys said “Councils are not the only organisations with litter cleansing responsibilities, but they are the only ones working hard to fulfil them. In April every year we hold a Big Spring Clean, with around 90,000 volunteers taking part in 2015. A large number of those people are cleaning up roadside verges, open spaces and the banks of streams because it isn’t being done by the organisations responsible for them.”

All of this effort taken together has led to an improvement in the litter levels around the country. The headline figure – the percentage of places surveyed which are deemed ‘unacceptable’ – fell from 17% in 2014 to 12% in 2015, following three years of worsening results.

Dr Humphreys concluded “Coming as it does when people are beginning to think about spending more time outdoors on warmer days and brighter evenings, this report is positive news, but it’s also a call to action for everybody to play their part and show they live here and love here.”