Mayo town is 'destroyed' with cigarette butts and vaping products 

Members of Castlebar Municipal District are calling on the public to refrain from littering cigarette butts around the town. 

At last week's meeting of councillors, Independent Cllr Harry Barrett told colleagues that the "latest craze", which is a nicotine replacement product, "is all over the town". 

"Then there’s all the cigarette butts down the alleyways. Castlebar is famed for its alleyways and we need to see it happen that they are cleaned, this is why we need extra staff, especially when tourists come. The Four Days Walks Festival is coming up and we need to see the town and especially the centre making a great impression. 

"When I came to this town first you would see a guy with a wheelbarrow, brush and shovel walking up and down and working on the Main Street all day. Sanitary standards have to be kept up, it has to be done.” 

Cllr Ger Deere said cigarette butts were “the bane of Tidy Towns and council staff”, adding: “They are so hard to pick up, you can’t get them with a litter picker, and these vaping products, the sooner they are banned the better. Even the wrappers and the stickers on them have the bins completely destroyed. 

"People just need to cop on. There is no excuse for throwing away cigarette butts, so I am making an appeal to people to put them in a bin or the ashtrays provided around for them.”