National Spring Clean 2024 completes milestone 25th anniversary spring clean

An Taisce is delighted to wrap up the 25th anniversary of National Spring Clean, which saw over 5,400 Spring Clean events take place throughout the country over the past month.

Every April, the National Spring Clean encourages communities from across Ireland to roll up their sleeves, tackle litter in local areas, and reap the benefits of a litter-free environment.   

This year, 5,430 groups registered to carry out clean-ups throughout the country, with over 500,000 volunteers participating in organised clean-ups, collecting an estimated 2,725 tonnes of litter. 

This brings the total amount of rubbish collected over the campaign's past 25 years to more than 50,200 tonnes.

Approximately 50 clean-ups were registered, with over 800 volunteers joining the campaign in Leitrim. 

Among them, Carrick-on-Shannon Tidy Towns hosted a series of clean-up events as part of Spring Clean 2024. 

Many volunteers, including local business owners, joined the campaign to ensure the town was completely litter-free, including participants from Brady Insurance and An Poitin Still Pub. The group hosted several clean-ups between March and April, in addition to planting, weeding, and building biodiversity beds in Linear Park.

Lauren Turley (7), Tara King (7), Anna King (6), Lauren Carney (6) and Adam King (4) also hosted an event as part of the National Spring Clean in Carrick on Shannon. The five children had their clean-up in Attyrory, removing six bags of litter in over two hours. 

The main litter items they found were bags of dog waste, a phone, a nappy, and vapes, in addition to many other bits and pieces. 

"Everyone is very proud of the children's effort, and the place looks amazing. They now all want to join Carrick on Shannon Tidy Towns on their Sunday's litter pick," said Jennifer Logan, a local community representative. 

This year, some 35% of all waste collected was recycled, thanks to recyclable waste bags provided to groups and individuals who register, while removing litter from our natural environment has helped tackle biodiversity loss. 

Minister of State at the Environment, Climate and Communications, Ossian Smyth TD, said: "Over the past 25 years, An Taisce's National Spring Clean campaign has been a huge success. I am delighted to see another year of positive engagement and community impact. It is fantastic to see the pride individuals take in their local communities."

National Spring Clean Chairperson Emlyn Cullen added: "This year marked an important year for An Taisce as we celebrated 25 years of the National Spring Clean, and we are so proud to have collected over 2,725 tonnes of litter. Thanks to the huge effort of our dedicated volunteers, over 50,200 tonnes of litter has been collected over the past 25 years. I'd like to thank all the individuals and groups who came out in droves to help support this campaign."