Cleaning up with cigarette initiative

NOWHERE in Galway has ever scooped the overall Tidy Towns Award. While Kinvara is not in a position to challenge for the title just yet, a small group of people are already working towards the day when the village will at least take part.
Kinvara has not taken part in the national competition since 2002. Two years ago, there was renewed interest.
“We had an organisation years ago but that stopped. Then two years ago we started again. One of the main things we do is a litter collection every second Saturday morning for an hour. We started that last year around February or March and it’s going well,” said Maria Hannigan, chairperson of the community council.
On their regular clean-ups, the group noticed two recurring problems.
“In the course of last year, we identified two areas that were very difficult and we wanted to tackle. One was cigarette butts on the ground outside pubs and the other was litter at bottle banks,” Maria continued.
Late last summer, the group saw an advertisement from Galway County Council offering support for small practical projects with a clear objective.
“We were the only ones who submitted an application specifically for cigarette litter and we got the grant,” recalled Maria.
The group, very directly, began tackling the problem.
“We interviewed all the publicans in the town and their customers who were outside smoking. Some of the pubs had small cigarette bins on the walls outside their premises but the smokers said they were too small and they were always stuffed. It looked to us like the cigarette disposal units were not adequate,” Maria stated.
The organisation came up with what they hope will be a solution to the problem of cigarette butts outside businesses, 20 painted sand buckets.
“We spoke to the publicans themselves. It would be their responsibility to put out the buckets when they open and take them in when they close, so the buckets themselves don’t become litter. We supply them but the publican will have to maintain them and get rid of the cigarette butts. If they need to be repainted or touched up, we will take care of that,” Maria continued.
All the publicans in the village are taking part, along with the local hotel. On Friday, at 6pm the colourful containers will be unveiled in the recognisable hues of purple and gold.
Although painted buckets may seem like a very simple solution to the litter problem, providing them took time and money. Each of the buckets had to be painted with three coats of paint with a slogan carefully added on after the final coat was finished. The group bought all their supplies locally to keep the money in the area.
Although the group has now been formed for two years, its members don’t feel ready just yet to enter the National Tidy Towns competition.
“We had a discussion about it and we spoke to Mark Molloy in the environment section of Galway County Council. He recommended that we try a three-year run in before entering the competition rather than putting ourselves under pressure.
“You have to enter by March I think, so I’m not sure we will be ready for the 2010 competition either but we are going to enter. We are in a much better position this year compared to last year with the opening of the new playground and the completion of building in the Square but we need a lot more people helping before we would be able to enter,” Maria asserted.
Volunteers are welcome to join the group on alternate Saturdays, with work continuing from 9am to 10am this Saturday.