Letterkenny Tidy Towns Launches Inaugural Sustainability Week!

14Oct

Letterkenny Tidy Towns Launches Inaugural Sustainability Week!

Post by Client Client

Community Initiative, Local News

Letterkenny Tidy Towns is thrilled to announce our inaugural Sustainability Week, planned from **21^st to 27^th** **October 2024**. This event, part of our **Power of One** sustainability initiative, aims to highlight and celebrate the sustainable practices of local businesses/organisations, schools and in our community.

Throughout the week, we invite the public to engage in various activities designed to showcase their commitment to sustainability. Businesses are encouraged to display posters in their windows, which we will provide, and share their sustainability stories – no matter how big or small – by emailing photos and descriptions to **lktidy@gmail.com**.

**Download Poster here!**

We are also encouraging sustainable practices across various sectors, including energy efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation, and employee well-being. By participating in Sustainability Week, businesses not only contribute to a healthier environment but also enhance their operational efficiency and community engagement.

In addition to businesses, we warmly welcome individuals, schools, and community groups to join in this initiative. Sharing your efforts will inspire others and foster a sense of community commitment to sustainability. Together, we can create a ripple effect of positive change throughout Letterkenny.

**Co-chairperson Gerard McCormick expressed his enthusiasm for the initiative, stating,** “Sustainability Week is a wonderful opportunity for our community to come together and showcase the incredible efforts being made towards a more sustainable future. By highlighting the collective actions of our local businesses, schools, and community, we can inspire each other and make a lasting impact. We encourage everyone to participate and share their stories!”

Let’s work together to make a difference and celebrate the wonderful efforts of our local community during Letterkenny Tidy Towns Sustainability Week!

For further information or inquiries, please contact us at **lktidy@gmail.com** or visit our website at www.letterkennytidytowns.com/sustainability/

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13Aug

Competition – Biodiversity

Post by Client Client
Biodiversity, Local News

What are the Biodiversity strengths of your local housing estate/neighbourhood?

Send a short description of your area to lktidy@gmail.com by Wednesday, 28th August 2024. The below headings will aid your description:

Habitats:

• Do you have woodland and hedgerows of native species are in your area?
• Do you have undisturbed areas of grassland left to nature?
• Do you have wildflower meadows or “Don’t Mow Let it Grow” areas where wildflower meadows are allowed to develop?
• Do you have Freshwater habitats – ponds, streams/burns? These freshwater habitats can be biodiversity hotspots.

Species:

• Tell us if wild species such as bats, hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, swifts etc. live in or visit your neighbourhood.

Pollinators:

Do you have many species of bees, hoverflies, other insects and creatures?

See Ireland’s Pollinator Plan here

Perhaps there are other items you would like to tell us about? Reducing the use of chemicals? Using peat free compost?

21Feb

Upcycling Project with SVP Station Roundabout and ATU Donegal

Post by Client Client

Community Initiative, Local News

Letterkenny Tidy Towns, SVP – Vincent’s Letterkenny Station Roundabout and the second year fashion students ATU Donegal have collaborated on a creative upcycling project.

This collaboration aims to promote sustainable practice in the fashion industry and showcase how to repurpose and reuse your clothing.

This display shows examples of how the fashion students transformed used clothes from the SVP shop.

This project is about more than just clothing, it is to empower our community to embrace climate change and conscious consumption.

We hope to inspire others to make more mindful choices and to join us on this journey, sparing clothes and fashion items from landfills.

#PowerofOneLK

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01Nov

Waste and Litter Survey 2023

Post by Client Client

Community Initiative, Local News

In May 2023, we developed an online Waste and Litter survey to get valuable community input in order to be an informed advocate and ensure our work programmes are focusing on issues important to the community. The highlights of the survey are below.

**Food Waste – Do Householders use a good caddy or Brown Bin?**

23% – Yes, we use a food caddy

22% – Yes, we use a brown bin

55% – No

**Recycling**

94% – Recycle

6% – No

**Littering**

85% – of respondents thought littering was a problem in Letterkenny

90% – of respondents have seen someone litter on the street

88% – of respondents have seen someone litter from their car

**What could be done about Littering in Letterkenny?**

89% – More litter wardens patrolling

84% – Increase fines for littering

49% – Imposing fines

24% – More provision of bins

8% – More education and awareness

Thank you to everyone who filled in the survey, it provided valuable information for the Letterkenny Tidy Towns committee.

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18Oct

Sustainable Community LK with Change Makers Donegal

Post by Client Client
Community Initiative, Local News, Tidy Town Events

Can’t believe it has been a week already – we had a great event and workshop with Change Makers Donegal last Wednesday on Sustainable Community LK and more specifically on reusing and recycling clothes Thanks to everyone who came and to Eilish & Fiona for the beautiful displays of repurposed clothing.

Our “Sustainable Community LK” event took place in conjunction with Change Makers Donegal on 11th October 2023 in the Station House Hotel – we had a full house.

What happened on the night:

Launched the Letterkenny Tidy Towns Power of One Campaign

Upcycling Tasters and Showcase

We discovered ways to repurpose and upcycle clothing – create accessories, scarfs, jewellery, bags, knit wear, interior items such as cushion covers and much more…

Workshop on Acts of Sustainability Locally with Change Makers Donegal

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We were joined by like minded people and explored climate friendly living. We found out how to become more sustainable in our daily lives and community. Discovered ways to prolong the lifespan of garments to reduce waste and lessen the environmental impact of materials.

11Oct

Power of One LK Initiative

Post by Client Client
Community Initiative, Local News

What’s your Power going to be?

LETTERKENNY Tidy Towns is encouraging the local community to embrace their power to effect change through the ‘Power of One’ initiative.

They launched the initiative with a specially created video on Wednesday 11^th October in the Station House Hotel as part of their Sustainable Community LK event.

This initiative is about creating awareness of sustainability and how everyone can make a difference in our community, by small actions every day.

“The ‘Power of One’ campaign aims to demonstrate that everyone has the power to make small changes, Letterkenny Tidy Towns encourages the community to introduce these changes to their daily lives. This could be as simple as donating a bag of saleable clothes to a charity shop, repurposing and upcycling clothes, using a reusable water bottle, growing your own food or volunteering for Sunday’s litter pick with Tidy Towns,” Gerard McCormick, Chairperson, Letterkenny Tidy Towns explained.

Ann-Louise McClintock, PRO and Social Media Co-ordinator continues: “Sustainability encompasses a wide range of themes and this is just one step to raise awareness through our Tidy Towns community. We are utilising the power of social media and want to encourage the community to share their comments/photos with us through #PowerofOneLK. We want to see how they are using their power and engaging their friends and family members. This will be an ongoing campaign and we will be posting simple ways you can take part over the coming weeks and months.”

Everyone has the ‘Power of One’ and together this can make a significant impact, so join us in making a positive change to our environment and community. One person, one act at a time.

‘What is your Power going to be?’

14Jun

38th Annual Cleaner Community Garden Competition 2023

Post by Client Client

Community Initiative, Local News

**Letterkenny Tidy Towns launch the 38^th Annual Cleaner Community Garden Competition**

We are delighted to run our Annual Garden Competition for 2023 with four categories to enter this year – **Best Large Garden**, **Best Small Garden**, **Best Wildlife Friendly Garden** and our new award **Best Kept Apartment Balcony Flower Display**.

The competition is open now and will run until the 12thJuly 2023, the entries will then be judged and each category winner will receive a trophy and an Alcorns gift voucher. (Please note we can only accept entries from Letterkenny and the surrounding townlands.)

The **Large Garden** competition is known as the Sean Higgins Memorial Award. Adjudication will cover planting, colour including shrubs, grassy areas and flower borders encouraging wildlife.

The **Small Garden** competition is known as the Charles and Rose Devlin Memorial Award. Adjudication will cover planting, colour including shrubs, grassy areas, and flower borders encouraging wildlife.

The **Wildlife-Friendly Garden** competition is known as the May McClintock Memorial Award, sponsored by An Taisce. For examples of what we might be looking for in this category, see the biodiversity section of our website.

Our new category this year is **Best Kept Apartment Balcony Flower Display Award,** this category will cover flower/plany displays and making the most of your space.

We can’t wait to see the amazing gardens in the Letterkenny area – SEND your entries NOW to lktidy@gmail.com or via our Facebook page or post/drop in pictures to Magees Pharmacy.

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07Apr

Launch of our 2023 Action Plan and 38th Annual Cleaner Community Awards

Post by Client Client

Local News, Tidy Town Events

L to R: Cllr Jimmy Kavanagh, Cllr Donal Coyle, Gerard McCormick, Cllr Donal “Mandy” Kelly, John McLaughlin Chief Executive DCC, Brian McCormick

**We launched our 2023 Action Plan and the 38th Annual Cleaner Community Awards on Tuesday 4th April in An Grianan Theatre.** We were delighted to have Mayor of Letterkenny Cllr Donal “Mandy” Kelly attending to launch it.

The Action Plan details the projects for the year ahead covering areas such as Sustainability, Biodiversity, Tidiness & Litter Control, Streetscape and so much more. We were thrilled with the turnout on Tuesday morning – it is encouraging to see the support from our Volunteers, Donegal County Council, our CE Scheme Participants, Letterkenny Chamber and Committee Members.

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05Apr

Paint the Town Initiative

Post by Client Client

Community Initiative, Local News

Do you own a Business in Letterkenny?

Would you love to Redecorate your shop front or premises but don’t know where to start?

Letterkenny Tidy Towns are collaborating with La Maison to help you choose the perfect colours.

We will organise a consultation for you with La Maison and you purchase your paint and organise your painter.

Watson Hire is also offering a discount on paint in their store.

If interested please send us a message on Facebook or email lktidy@gmail.com

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06Dec

Local News

What are the Biodiversity strengths of your local housing estate/neighbourhood?

Habitats:

Species:

Pollinators: