Maynooth is the cleanest town in Ireland, according to a new survey, but a rise in coffee cup litter has led to calls for action to take single-use cups out of circulation.
The latest survey from business group Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal) shows that for the first time no area was found to be "seriously littered".
Maynooth came top out of 40 towns and cities, with Dublin's North Inner City at the bottom of the table.
An Taisce, which carried out the surveys on behalf of Ibal, said Maynooth had achieved a level of cleanliness in 2023, which saw its university campus described as "spotless" and Main Street achieving "an excellent result for a busy shopping environment".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ibal's Conor Horgan said they found "very little litter" during both of their visits to the town.
"Maynooth is not without its challenges, with a big student population, it really puts it up to others, 'why can’t we be as good?'" Mr Horgan said.
While litter levels rose slightly overall, over 60% of towns surveyed were deemed clean in 2023 and no towns were "seriously littered", according to Mr Horgan.
Waterford edged out Galway as the cleanest city, with Cork city centre showing improvement to "moderately littered", but Dublin fell to "littered" status, alongside Limerick.
Dublin North Inner City was in last place on the table, but its "littered" status was an improvement on previous years, however "vast amounts of litter and domestic rubbish" were seen along Sherrard Street.
The survey found "monumental levels of dumping" on Mallow Street in Limerick, while a vacant site on William Street was described as "an eye-sore, right in the heart of the city".
One of the surprise findings of the Ibal survey was the rise in coffee cup litter, which was found at over 30% of the more than 500 sites surveyed.
Mr Horgan said: "We are concerned at potential delays in introducing a coffee cup levy.
"We believe this action is needed to stamp out a product which is out of step with the circular economy. Irrespective of how recyclable or compostable take-away cups are, these statistics show too many of them are ending up on our streets."
There was also another significant rise in the prevalence of disposable vapes, which were found in more than 10% of all sites surveyed.
Mr Horgan also said that Ibal hopes that the Government's new Deposit Return Scheme will be a "game changer" with plastic bottles and cans being present in half of the more than 500 locations they surveyed.
"This scheme will remove a large portion of this litter and bring about a significantly cleaner environment in 2024.
"While there may be some inconvenience for consumers, the prize is a very real, and a very immediate one," he said.
