National Spring Clean 2010

National Spring Clean is Ireland’s most popular, well recognised and successful anti-litter initiative. Now in its 12th year, the campaign encourages every sector of society to actively participate and take responsibility for litter, by conducting clean-ups in their own local environment. National Spring Clean traditionally takes place throughout the month of April.

National Spring Clean has been operated by An Taisce since 1999 in partnership with the Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government and Local Authorities. The size and scale of National Spring Clean has grown steadily over the years.

In 1999, 1,732 clean-up events were registered with An Taisce and an estimated 155,000 people took part in these events. By 2009 these numbers had risen to 5,058 events with over 505,000 people participating.
Last year (2009), an estimated 1596 tonnes of litter was collected of which 35% was recycled.

The effort and enthusiasm of the National Spring Clean volunteers has ensured the campaign’s success. As National Spring Clean has become a fixed date on the school and community calendar, this partnership can look forward to an even greater success for many years to come.

Deputy Wallace stated “The National Spring Clean campaign is a great initiative to help improve and maintain the appearance of our County. I would encourage groups to take part because it is a great way of promoting pride in the locality, while fostering a sense of community through bringing people together with a common aim and at the same time keeping Co Meath attractive and clean for the many visitors to the County”.

If you wish to take part in this campaign, you can log on to www.nationalspringclean.org to register and get your “clean-up” pack.