Community fed up of littering and fly-tipping calls for action
Ted Peskett, Local democracy reporter
Residents in a Cardiff suburb plagued by ‘depressing’ levels of littering and fly-tipping have had enough of the mess on their streets and have called for action.
Grangetown is not alone in facing serious issues with litter in Cardiff, but residents are continuing to voice their discontent over split black waste bags piling up around public bins and mattresses being dumped on pavements.
Many have decided enough is enough and have either taken it upon themselves to start cleaning streets or have called on their community to come together and sort out the problem together.
Cardiff Council ward member for Grangetown, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said she and her fellow ward councillors share residents’ concerns and are in conversations with officers about solutions.
Bin collection
One thing residents said they have noticed recently is people mistakenly putting out mixed green recycling bags out for collection when the area has moved to a new way of recycling.
Grangetown is one of the areas in Cardiff that has moved to Cardiff Council’s separated recycling scheme.
The scheme, which is aimed at improving the quality of recyclable material, involves putting different items in separate containers and sacks.
There have been teething issues with the introduction of the new way of recycling in some communities, with people putting the wrong items in the wrong containers and some residents mentioning the difficulty of having to store multiple recycling containers in their home.
However, the council insists it has already shown signs of improving the quality of recyclable material.
Resident voices- Martin
Grangetown resident Martin Williams had just started walking at least two miles a day to improve his health following a heart operation when he noticed the sheer amount of rubbish in the area.
“Every single lane you pass, you look down and there’s rubbish in the lane,
“I crossed the road on Clare Road and there were two mattresses by the side of the bus stop.
“Then I’m walking down Bishop Street and there are more black bags there and there are seagulls eating them.” said Martin
Martin used to work for Cardiff Council’s waste management team as a senior manager based at Lamby Way.
He retired three years ago on medical grounds, but has offered his services to the community after seeing the amount of rubbish and complaints about rubbish in Grangetown.
He has offered to act as a go-between for residents who want to raise concerns with the council and he has also given advice on waste disposal to residents and businesses.
Resident voices- Fiona
Fiona McAllister of litter picking group, Keep Grangetown Tidy, said she can see the positives of bringing in the new system, but wonders whether it has fully bedded in across Grangetown yet.
She has also noticed the amount of fly-tipping, including the dumping of mattresses, around town.
Other items that the litter pickers, who meet monthly, come across include nitrous oxide canisters, discarded vapes and more common forms of waste like cans and crisp packets.
On the state of littering and fly-tipping in Grangetown, Fiona said: “I think people are generally depressed about it.
“We try to do as much as we can as a group and as individuals within the group, but I think people are generally quite depressed because the streets are so dirty.”
She thinks part of the problem is landlords, when they dump items left by a previous tenants.
However, more generally she said she would like to see increased levels of prevention work and education to tackle the problem.
Despite how difficult it is to keep Grangetown litter-free, Fiona still hopes Keep Grangetown Tidy will encourage the community to take action.
“It is quite a positive thing… we get a group of people together who do care about the community.
“People come away from litter picks making friends, people get to know their neighbours. It is actually quite a sociable thing and it is a good thing to do to get links into the community.” said Fiona.
You can get involved with Keep Grangetown Tidy and join them for their next litter pick starting from Court Road at 10am on Saturday, August 17.
Council response
Cllr Lynda Thorne said: “We understand and share the concerns of the residents which in the main relate to individuals who are not presenting on the right day or in the correct manner and finding beds, mattresses and other furniture frequently being dumped and very often in the same place.
“Just recently a van was identified dumping rubbish on the highway at Channel View Road in broad daylight and while residents managed to photograph the van the number plates were false and police were also aware that this vehicle had been seen doing this across Grangetown.
“So it was very frustrating for residents but the police and enforcement are working together to try to identify the culprit.
“The council is introducing a new cleaning regime together with a larger enforcement and education team in the autumn, the introduction of these teams was delayed due to the strike action.
“The service has also done a lot of work identifying different types of properties such as HMOs, houses turned into flats, and flatted blocks to see how we can make it easier for people to store and present their waste, and work on that front is ongoing.”
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I walked through Grangetown a few weeks ago and the dirt, litter and neglect reminded my of Eastern Europe 30 years ago. You go there now and people take real pride in their areas, litter is unheard of, why can’t we do the same? I don’t think its just down to the people who live in Grangetown, the Council must take some responsibility as well, pavements are overgrown with weeds, bins not collected for weeks, the area is just awful. Some house owners do take pride, but others are in multiple occupancy and the front gardens look like a tip,… Read more »