The war against litter continues to be waged in Waterford city and county, with a significant new industry for the county held out as the prize for success. The Irish Business Against Litter organisation (IBAL), spearheaded by Cork businessman Dr Tom Cavanagh, and involving leading Irish companies, has promised to build a £1 million advance factory in the county if Waterford attains litter-free status this year.
Both city and county have taken up the challenge, appointing new litter wardens and increasing the budget for an antilitter campaign.
Waterford Corporation has now targeted schools for an antilitter educational programme, including competitions with substantial prizes.
More bins will be provided and the emphasis will be on stringent implementation of the Litter Pollution Act.
"This is the start of our concerted assault on litter, " said the mayor, Mr Tom Cunningham, at the campaign's unveiling. "Once we have established a litter-free city, we intend to maintain it."
The assessment of progress is being carried out by An Taisce through random litter surveys. The most recent one yielded results which were not encouraging and there are only a few months left for the city and county authorities to demonstrate that their efforts have significantly changed public habits.
The schools' programme will be crucial as surveys have found that the areas near schools are litter blackspots.
Dr Cavanagh repeated IBAL's recent public broadside against the Government, suggesting that the State had failed by not strictly implementing the anti-litter laws.
He noted that, under existing legislation, shopkeepers and owners of businesses can be held responsible for litter on the streets beside their premises.
The corporation hopes to involve young people by issuing "Litter Ranger" equipment and encouraging junior litter clubs to "Adopt a Street" or "Adopt an Estate".
However, prizes or no prizes, it seems obvious that any effective solution to the litter problem in the short-term will hinge upon a determined prosecution policy.
The most striking initiative in the Waterford campaign so far was taken by the county council when it hired private investigators to collect evidence of illegal waste dumping in the countryside. This resulted in several prosecutions.