Fag End Of Our Tidy Days Slammed

Fag ends and sweetie papers are the bane of officials attempting to keep the Province tidy.

While the number of 'litter-louts' in Ulster has dropped for the third year in a row, smokers and sweet-eaters are still a problem, new figures reveal.

Anti-trash charity TIDY Northern Ireland claimed in a survey that the number of streets meeting Government cleanliness targets has increased.

But there is still a long way to go - with cigarette butts and paper, confectionery wrappers and chewing gum the most commonly found rubbish.

The TIDY Borough Cleanliness Survey said smokers' waste accounts for almost 50% of litter, while sweet-eaters' trash follows behind at 38%.

Third was chewing gum mess, appearing on 34% of the public spaces scrutinised.

Of 1,000 public sites surveyed in 2007, just 8% were not up to scratch - compared to a 13% failure rate the previous year.

Nigel Frazer from TIDY NI said there was room for improvement.

"It is pleasing to see confirmation that Northern Ireland is getting cleaner, but it is a constant battle to keep litter off our streets and we are now seeing some worrying trends that need to be addressed immediately," he said.

"Sadly it is no surprise to see an increase in cigarette litter following the introduction of the public smoking ban, but the dramatic rise in confectionery litter is an unexpected and worrying development."

(BMcC)