Every litter helps; REPORT SLAMS STORES OVER RUBBISH AND LACK OF BINS.

Byline: MIRROR REPORTER

A NUMBER of supermarket giants are dirtying the image of Irish towns, an anti-litter group claimed yesterday.

An Irish Business Against Litter group survey showed Tesco, Dunnes Stores and Lidl are among the worst offenders.

The group has called on councils to "get tough" with litter offenders and force them to tidy up their premises.

Ibal chairman Dr Tom Cavanagh said: "The survey exposes a crucial shortcoming in how we tackle the litter problem.

"Local Authorities are simply turning a blind eye to commercial litter offenders. They happily fine an individual for dropping a sweet wrapper.

"However, getting tough with an employer in a town who ignores the litter laws is quite another matter."

Among the offending supermarkets singled out for particular attention was Tesco Waterford for its "persistent litter presence, with no litter bins in the area surveyed".

Dunnes Stores in Ballina, Co Mayo, was criticised as "by far the most heavily littered of all the sites surveyed in Ballina".

It added:"There was a wide variety of litter present and the recycle facility was particularly poor."

In Tesco in Mallow, Co Cork, "much of the litter was 'old', indicating a lack of thorough cleaning for quite some time. The overall appearance was shabby and uncared for".

At Lidl/Argos in Galway "the planted areas and location at roadside edge of the car park were very dirty - filled with a wide variety of all manner of litter".

On the other hand, Superquinn in Blanchardstown, Dublin, was praised for being "in very good condition".

The survey added of the site: "The overall impression is of a very well maintained environment. There was a complete absence of litter."

Dr Cavanagh said: "The local authority's job is not to clean these areas but to ensure the job is done by enforcing the law where necessary. Authorities plead that resources are scarce but it costs little to send a fine in the post and the monies collected are retained by those authorities.

"The benefit in improved cleanliness is immediate.

"Supermarkets, pubs and fastfood outlets will continue to blot our landscape until councillors and council staff choose to issue fines instead of mere warnings."