Ireland's provocative Anti-Garbage Campaign

If you have ever been to Dublin, you may have noticed that this auspicious city has a filthy alter ego, namely "Dirty Old Town".

In order to get rid of Dublin's adverse reputation of being Ireland's dirtiest city, the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government along with four Dublin Local Authorities has developed a provocative 1 million euro anti-garbage campaign with particular focus on educating and raising awareness among children and young adults. The campaign includes television (check out the TV ad below), radio, online and outdoor advertisement (see picture). [source: dublinwaste.ie]

It's definitely about time that the government takes some action. Speaking from my personal experience, this city is quite a filthy fella. I always get the urge to hit the ceiling every time I see garbage hanging in the tree in front of my window. If you take a look at the front yard of our condominium you can find all kinds of things there: from broken blinds, discarded coffee cups, empty cans, broken umbrellas to cigarette stubs, shoes, tampons, old newspapers and used condoms (well, at least they've heard of safe sex!). Let me point out to you that I'm living in the "posh" Dublin South area. Yeah Dublin, the city where people let their dogs do their business directly next to the sign that says there is a high fine to pay if you don't remove your dog's feces from a public area.

Then, a couple of weeks ago we were presented with some wild west feeling as bales of shredded paper were rolling around the streets.

Considering that our back yard isn't exactly a prime example of cleanliness either, I feel some sympathy for the people living in this condominium. Here, bringing out the trash may give you a taste of this pre-heart attack feeling when, all of a sudden, cats jump out of the trash cans just as you're about to dump your garbage bags into them. Still, this is no excuse for smutching the back yard. I must confess I suffer from a childhood trauma that still gives me nightmares about cats (nothing against cats!), but I still make it to dump my garbage where it belongs. It's a bit silly, but I just tend to go out there mostly when it rains - as we all know, cats are a bit shy regarding water.

It's actually kind of a phenomenon that Dublin is so filthy as there is quite an abundance of garbage cans in this city. Well, this anti-garbage campaign is at least a beginning!

"If you behave like a piece of filth, that's how the world sees you. Littering is disgusting, so are those responsible." (TV ad):

A heated discussion on this subject can be found here. Last week, the Irish Times published a worthwhile article about dumping on "dirty old town's" beauty spots, check it out here!

What You Can Do:

Live in the US? Check out what the former The OC star, actress Autumn Reeser, does to reduce her waste footprint: