The Liberal Democrats also like to boast the rise in recycling over the last four years. Councillor Elgan Morgan notes the rise in Cardiff from 11 per cent to 27 per cent since 2004. He said: “In 2004 to 2005, just when we took over from Labour, we were at the bottom of the league table for recycling in Wales. But we made a major objective to get this city recycling.”
Kitchen Caddies
Most food can be disposed of every week, and residents should throw it in specially provided biodegradable white liners in their caddies, as shown below:
These are then placed in a larger white bag and placed on the pavement the night before collection, or in a green wheelie bin for those wards that have them. Black rubbish bags are put out weekly, and green recycling bags fortnightly. Residents must check the council timetable, which is available from the council website, to see which days and weeks their refuse is collected.
Some residents of Cardiff are pleased with the kitchen caddy scheme. Mary Briggs, 40, of Dalcross Street said: “It’s brilliant, as a family we are consciously making no waste go spare, and now our food bags and recycling bags are fuller than our black bags.”
However, Ceri Smith, 18, of Bronwydd Avenue said: “To be honest I haven’t used the bin. I find it difficult to scrape it into such a small container without tipping it all over the floor. Now I just forget about it and it goes straight into the main bin.”
Cardiff is planning to convert the food waste into compost, to be then used in the parks and gardens. Their targets are to recycle and compost at least 40 per cent of all waste by 2009/10 and by 2013 to have no more than 50 per cent of all the household waste sent to a landfill. This would be a significant reduction.
Recycling
The following video shows the steps you should take in dealing with your different components of waste and the bags you need to put each item of rubbish in:
Here you can access lists showing what goes in your green bag and what is not allowed. It is useful to put it on display on your wall or fridge:
The two pictures below show examples of what can be recyled. It includes: tin cans, cardboard food wrapping, plastic yoghurt/dessert pots, glass bottles and lids, plastic bottles, plastic cartons and cardboard juice cartons.
Everything of this nature goes in the specially provided green bags, which should have been delivered to every household, although you can get extra rolls from some nearby shops.
Some items should not go in the green recycling bag such as plastic bags, crisp packets, electrical items, and kitchen foil:
Presently the Cardiff recycling bags are taken to The Materials Reclamation Facility at Lamby Way. This sorts out all the bags’ contents on a conveyor belt, using a combination of human labour and machinery to separate out the different materials. The recycling machinery has improved so it can now deal with 90,000 tonnes of waste, 15 times more than the earlier amount of 6,000 tonnes per annum.
Educating Kids
The council has launched the Really Rubbish Campaign in local primary and secondary schools to increase participation, learning and awareness of recycling issues. It is combining educational resources for teachers with recycling facilities for schools. Free lesson plans and learning materials have been provided, and the children are taking part in "reduce, reuse, recycle" workshops, with competitions and prizes. The Recycling Education Team, who you can contact on 029 2071 7500 or WasteManagement@cardiff.gov.uk, have more information.
Some of the schools include Adamsdown Primary School and Albany Road Primary School. Local teacher Jane Thomas said: “It’s a great scheme, we have tons of material from the council, and the kids are really getting into learning more about recycling and the wider benefits of caring about our environment. Cardiff is moving in the right direction definitely, and it helps if we can start people’s conscientious and concerned minds young.”
Flytipping and excess rubbish
Another concerning environmental problem in Cardiff is flytipping, which is dumping waste bags and rubbish in inappropriate or illegal areas, such as public thoroughfayres or private property. Councillor Gwenllian Lansdown, of Riverside, said: “It is a particular problem in parts of South Riverside particularly around Fitzhamon Lane.”
Police Community Support Officer Bethan Evans said: “We are trying out a new scheme called alley gating. Fitzhamon Lane is to be closed with lockable barriers at each entrance to prevent illegal fly tipping. We hope this will stop people dumping waste in this manner.”
However Riverside resident Mark Walker, 32, of Clare Street, is disbelieving. He said: “This scheme will not stop the anti-social people dumping waste elsewhere. The council needs to get off their backs and provide wheelie bins for all wards. That would be a start in stopping flytipping. At the moment people have too much rubbish and nowhere to put them.”
Indeed others are concerned about the inconsistencies of rubbish facilities, with no wheelie bins being provided in Cathays either. Eileen Simmons, 64, of Llandough Street, Cathays, said: “This is predominantly a student area. They have too much rubbish because of the large number of people in each house, and they are always putting their recycling bags out on the wrong week, too early or too late, meaning they build up all week. I never see my road completely free of bags.”
Asked what her solution would be, Mrs Simmons said: “Wheelie bins for all, and weekly, or even bi-weekly green bag collection. If the council are committed to improving the environment, they should implement rubbish collection more frequently and more consistently through the city.”
Bulky household waste
The council does provide services for the collection of bulky household waste, most of it for free. If you fill in this form, they will collect fridges, furniture, freezers and other such items from outside your house.
There are also four major household waste recycling centres around Cardiff, which can be found on the below map:
History of Recycling Policies
To give a bit of history about where the Liberal Democrats are coming from with their big focus on waste disposal, this audio explains a few of the legislative initiatives that have given rise to an increased urge to recycle:
Be proud of your pile
For all your council refuse and recycling queries, you can contact C2C (Connect to Cardiff) for information and advice. Phone 029 2087 2087 (English), or 029 2087 2088 (Cymraeg) or fax 029 2087 2086, visit http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/c2c or e-mail c2c@cardiff.gov.uk
Some scepticism remains and some people are unhappy with inconsistencies. But a common consensus seems to exist that Cardiff is moving towards a cleaner future. If anything, the frequent changes, education and innovative recycling schemes are forcing us to think about where our waste goes, and take more pride in our pile of rubbish.
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