The Annual Neat Streets Conference 2023/24 took place at the Aviva Stadium where An Taisce, appointed by the Irish Government as a Sustainable Development Goals Champion, spearheaded the theme “Students Championing the SDGs.” The conference focused on highlighting the goals most pertinent to the Neat Streets Programme and waste prevention initiatives. As a cornerstone event of the programme, the Neat Streets Conference showcased the progress and dedication of schools like Lucan Community College Dublin, our Neat Streets Champion school, who shared their experiences and advancements in tackling litter and waste issues. Additionally, attendees were privileged to hear from Dr. Sabrina Dekker, Climate Action Coordinator, who delivered a compelling talk on Sustainable Cities and the future trajectory of Dublin’s Climate Action Plan. Programme Manager Stephen led a talk on environmental action and sustainable well-being. He also guided students in the Future City Innovators: SDG City Challenge. In this activity, students received a blank canvas and creatively envisioned and designed a city embodying a specific SDG they were given. Students worked together to outline the policies and values their city needed to turn imagination into solutions.

The conference enables students from various participating schools to discuss how best to tackle the issues of litter and waste and provided a forum for schools to share action plan ideas and experiences. Teacher and student groups are facilitated separately for much of the event so as to provide separate and focused platforms for each group to learn independently from An Taisce and their peers.