Kilkenny County Council
RehabCare is the A Team in Kilkenny’s “Let’s Team Up to Clean Up”
RehabCare was first out of the gates on Tuesday to take part in Kilkenny County Council’s “Let’s Team Up to Clean Up, Together for Kilkenny”, a day of environmental action. Eager to get going, the service users at RehabCare organised themselves into two teams and planned their litter picking routes throughout the city. The Mayor of Kilkenny City, Cllr David Fitzgerald came to meet the teams along with the Council’s Environmental Awareness Officer.
The inaugural litter picking activity was stalled by the weather but the sense of excitement and city pride swelled in the room as discussion took place on why its so important to keep Kilkenny City tidy. The Mayor compared Kilkenny’s hurling success to how well Kilkenny City is cared for, it takes a great team to keep Kilkenny looking so well and this initiative helps the community to provide a helping hand. He said “every team needs star players and I see a great team in front of me today”.
The registration for “Lets’ Team Up to Clean Up, Together for Kilkenny” is now closed. There will be 55 groups active on the morning of Kilkenny Day between 10.30am-12.30pm, picking loose litter and reporting illegal dumping hot spots into the Council for investigation. A representative of each group has attended a health and safety information session and each group have been given a litter kit from the James Stephens Army Barracks where army personnel came on board to lend a hand and assembled the litter kits.
The day will see over 6,000 flowering bulbs planted which will increase the floral displays around the city next spring. The initiative provided over 600 litter pickers and 600 hi vis vests along with ancillary health and safety equipment to community groups and schools across Kilkenny City.
For any group who missed the opportunity to participate this month, a county wide initiative is planned for next February and the registration portal is open via https://cleanup.kilkenny.ie/, groups are welcome to apply now. This initiative would not be possible without the corporate sponsors who came onboard to make this initiative a reality. Kilkenny County Council acknowledges PRL, Dawn Meats, John O Shea Trust and Glanbia PLC/Glanbia Co-op together and the waste management sponsor Panda who came on board to share the joint vision of this ambitious community driven environmental initiative.
