WATCH Team Limerick Clean-Up volunteers praise 11 years of community pride and impact

Team Limerick Clean-Up volunteers praise 11 years of community pride and impact. Joe Cleary with Mr Binman staff and Limerick City and County Council staff at the pack distribution point in Kilmallock. Picture: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick

Team Limerick Clean-Up volunteers from across Limerick praise the impact the initiative has had on local communities as they gear up for TLC2026!

Volunteers from across Limerick are gearing up for Team Limerick Clean-up 2026, as they reflect on the impact the initiative has had on local communities for more than a decade.

Team Limerick Clean-Up (TLC) takes place this Good Friday, 3rd April, across Limerick City and County and is celebrating its 11th year of the annual clean-up, the largest of its kind in Ireland.

Community leaders, local volunteer groups, school children, and sports clubs collected their TLC packs containing all the equipment they needed for this Good Friday’s clean-up and praised the success of Team Limerick Clean-Up, highlighting its growing community impact.

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Carmel Ryan from Askeaton said the initiative has improved towns and rural roads since its beginning. She said, “We’ve been involved in Team Limerick Clean-Up since the very beginning. We’re absolutely delighted to take part, and it really shows on country roads and in our towns and villages that this initiative is a success.”

The impact that TLC has had on the community is intergenerational, thanks to the efforts of schools teachers, parents, and sports clubs getting young people involved in the initiative, “I’m a teacher here in Desmond College in Newcastle West,” said Aoife O’Malley, adding, “We think it’s just really important for the students to get involved in the community to get out and give back.”

11-year-old Melanie from Templeglantine National School says her mum got her involved in the clean-up from a young age and she has loved it ever since. Melanie said, “I love doing Team Limerick Clean-Up because it’s a good way to help out the environment, and I’ve been doing it since I could walk, so it’s fun for me, and especially now, when I’m doing it with my friends. ”  

This week, groups met at one of the many pack distribution points across Limerick, the Mr Binman team were at hand to support all of the TLC volunteers. Joe Cleary from Mr Binman said, “ We’re a part of Team Limerick Clean-Up and a sponsor of it since day one – over 11 years ago now! We love seeing people get out, clean up their community, and show pride in their community and help clean up Limerick every Good Friday. We’re proud to be a part of Team Limerick Clean-up, and Team Lime Clean-Up wouldn’t happen without you and your communities getting out on Good Friday!”

As part of the TLC packs, volunteers receive hi-vis jackets, pairs of gloves, rubbish bags, litter pickers, and one volunteer, Joan O’Connor, collecting on behalf of Anglesboro Tidy Towns said they received “tea bags for the cup of tea afterwards. Very important!”

Joan says her group has been involved from the very beginning of TLC, saying, “ We love doing it every year. It starts off our Tidy Towns for the year, and I’m here to collect my Team Limerick Clean-Up pack.”

The initiative has grown year-on-year with participants breaking records in attendance at each event, highlighting the impact TLC has had on Limerick communities, Noreen Stack from Feohanagh Cooly-Gorman noted, “We’ve done every Team Limerick Clean-Up, and it has grown and really been a community event every year. We now have over 60 people! Thank you so much for this initiative. It has really been great for our village and community spirit.”

Sponsored by the JP McManus Benevolent Fund and supported by Limerick City and County Council, over 23,500 volunteers took part in Team Limerick Clean-Up last year which was spread over 547 groups all over Limerick City and Limerick County including 89 schools. Last year saw over 50 tonnes of litter collected, which is equivalent to approx. 2000 household wheelie bins of rubbish.