Ennis Tidy Towns have been announced as the winners of the Large Town and Urban Centre award at the national SuperValu Tidy Towns Competition 2021.
The Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) provides a total of €5,000 in prize money each year which is distributed amongst the winners of the Large Town and Urban Centre and Village and Small Town subcategories, with a €1,000 bonus being awarded to the overall winner.
Last year, for the first time in 60 years, the annual TidyTowns competition had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, the competition makes a welcome return with a special reward that recognises the contribution that TidyTowns groups have made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since 2007, the GLT has sponsored a category award in the national TidyTowns competition as part of an ongoing awareness campaign aimed at highlighting the issue of littered gum amongst the public.
The awards seek to acknowledge the consistent efforts of local organisations working to reduce the levels of litter within their own communities in order to better the streetscape of the localities in which they live.
This year’s competition saw Ennis Tidy Towns win the Large Town and Urban Centre award for their consistent efforts to tackle littered gum in the area. Monivea TidyTowns took the Village and Small Town award, in addition to being crowned overall winners.
Ennis Tidy Towns has worked very closely with the Environment section of Clare County Council to help raise awareness of gum litter in the last 24 months. They also partnered with Ennis Coder Dojo who developed a series of online games, created by local children, part of which focused on games around litter picking and the impact of gum litter.
Speaking about the awards, Paul Kelly, Chairman of the GLT, said; ‘’The TidyTowns competition acknowledges on a national stage the diligent and persistent efforts of local community-based groups in tackling the issue of litter in their localities. I am delighted to see Ennis TidyTowns’ hard work rewarded with the Large Town and Urban Centre awardand hope that their work will inspire others to get involved in anti-litter initiatives within their own communities going forward.”
The Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) awards are part of the wider GLT “Bin Your Gum When You’re Done” campaign with online, TV and poster advertising and a dedicated website. The GLT is a joint initiative between the chewing gum industry, Food Drink Ireland and the Irish government to achieve a long-term sustainable solution to the irresponsible disposal of chewing gum, supported by Mars Wrigley.