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Environmental charity Live Here Love Here has released its annual Cleaner Neighbourhoods report, which provides a snapshot of local environmental quality across all 11 council areas in Northern Ireland. When compared to last year, the report finds the litter situation is getting worse

Across a number of indicators, Northern Ireland is facing issues in tackling litter. This report should serve as a reminder that we need to redouble our efforts to address this issue, which has an impact on our wellbeing; damages nature; and contributes to climate change. We require a renewed set of policies and measures to address sources of litter and change the attitudes of the minority of people who still think it is acceptable to litter.

The report reveals that 29% of the surveyed areas failed to meet acceptable cleanliness standards. This score is 10% higher than in 2025. The two most commonly found items of litter were cigarettes (55%) and confectionery (55%). A more prominent form of litter, dog fouling, was found on 5% of transects, up from 4% in 2025. The increase in overall rates and in other litter items beyond already unacceptable levels reinforces the need to act urgently.

A new addition to this year’s report is information on public attitudes towards littering. Research conducted by Cognisense found that 85% of people we surveyed agree that littering is a major problem in Northern Ireland today. 7% disagree that this is the case, with the rest undecided. That 15% who either disagree or are not convinced about the seriousness of the issue reinforces the case that we still have some distance to go to get the anti-litter message home.

The Chief Executive of Live Here Love Here, Eric Randall, said;

“The publication of the Cleaner Neighbourhoods Report demonstrates why Northern Ireland needs to prioritise tackling litter. The results in this report set out in the clearest terms why we need to act with urgency. Whenever we talk about tackling the climate emergency, it is easy to think that issues such as litter are a small part of that. However, littering causes significant damage to our local wildlife and biodiversity. This report sets out concrete steps that can be taken to make a difference. The positive from this report is that, whilst the problem is getting worse, there are things all of us can do to make a difference and reduce litter on our streets. My call today is that we redouble our efforts to that end.”

The Cleaner Neighbourhoods Report is funded by the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs through the carrier bag levy.

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