Trolley Clean Up On The River Tawe
On Thursday and Friday, 9th & 10th February 2017, Mid and west Wales Fire and Rescue Service joined forces with clean-up teams in Swansea Council and Natural Resources Wales to retrieve dozens of shopping trollies from the River Tawe.
A recent survey of a section of the river has highlighted around 60 shopping trollies that have been thrown in by members of the public.
The trolleys are a cause of hazard for the Fire Service Rescue Crews during operations along the river. Over the course of the two days, the Fire Service deployed one of its river boats to retrieve the items which were then collected and disposed of by Swansea Council.
Gail Smith, Head of Response, Swansea County Command, said: “The dumping of shopping trolleys into the Tawe River is a great risk to all users of the river and especially to wildlife.
“Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue crews regularly train on the River Tawe with boats from Swansea Central Station and this particular issue is a major hazard to Fire and Rescue crews when conducting rescue operations on the river.
“We are delighted to be working side by side with Swansea Council, and Natural Resources Wales to clean up the river way.
“I would like to take this opportunity to ask everybody who uses a shopping trolley to return it to the shop in a safe and responsible manner.”
User comments
David Hopkins, Cabinet Member for Environment & Transportation, said: “It’s a shame that this sort of operation is necessary in the first place.
“The river is no different to other parts of our city in terms of wanting to take pride in its appearance and ensure it is litter free.
“It’s particularly difficult to tackle this sort of fly tipping so joining forces with the Fire Service makes it easier to remove objects that shouldn’t be in the water.
“I would urge members of the public who think dumping large objects such as shopping trollies in the river to think twice about their actions. It’s irresponsible and can create unnecessary dangers in the water for those that use it.”
The Council is siting disposal facilities near Swansea Sub Aqua Club during the operation and will be disposing of all the trollies taken out of the river.
Watch Manager Dave Gates of Swansea Central Fire Station said, “We managed to remove over 50 trolleys, 4 bikes, fencing, lockers and a lot of waste scrap over the two days, filling two large container skips.
This joint initiative with Swansea Council was a resounding success and I am proud of the watch during this campaign for mucking in.”
Unfortunately, there is still over a hundred trolleys in the River Tawe. This exercise has highlighted the dangers that disposing of waste material in this manner possess to the public and wildlife and the enormous amount of resources needed to remove the waste.”
Spotted something? Got a story? Email News@News.Wales
