One Kildare town in IBAL top 10
Main Street, Leixlip
ONLY one Kildare town – Leixlip - finished in the Top 10 cleanest towns in Ireland, according to the 2026 Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Survey.
The latest litter survey by business group IBAL shows Leixlip again inside the top five in the ranking of 40 cities and towns, in 3rd position, while Newbridge is also clean in 11th spot.
Once again both towns lost marks because of the state of the Bring Centres at two supermarkets.
Sligo again topped the IBAL ranking, with Limerick City Centre the only area branded ‘littered’.
The An Taisce report stated: “Leixlip has again scored very well with eight out of the 10 sites getting the top litter grade.
“These included the approach roads, the residential area of Riverdale where there was a complete absence of litter, the Main Street and Arthur Guiness Car Park – the latter is a lovely town centre environment.
“By far the most heavily littered site in Leixlip was the Bring Centre at Lidl – levels were such that it was verging on becoming a litter blackspot. This site was poor in the IBAL 2025 survey and clearly needs more attention”.
The report on Newbridge stated: “A very strong result for Newbridge with seven of the 10 sites getting the top litter grade.
“These included the residential area of College Green, The Main Street – which was deemed exceptionally clean, and Liffey Linear Park – the latter is a wonderful park and river environment, with all elements suitably maintained.
“By far the most heavily littered site in Newbridge was the Bring Facility at Tesco – it had been heavily dumped upon.
No town or city occupied the “seriously littered” or “litter blackspot” categories at the foot of the IBAL table.
Overall litter levels were on a par with last year, with 27 towns deemed clean. Sligo finished ahead of Monaghan and Leixlip, with Waterford – again Ireland’s cleanest city – in 4th spot.
“As the peak season for tourist visitors approaches, we have fewer littered areas than we’ve had at any time in the last 25 years,” commented IBAL’s Conor Horgan.
Once again, the study showed a low number of very heavily littered sites among the 500-plus sites surveyed compared to previous years.
“The job’s not done, but across the country, local authorities appear to have upped their game when it comes to tackling persistently littered sites and dumping in our towns and cities.” Despite DRS, bottles and cans ARE not disappearing from our streets.
