Tackling Commercial Waste Issues In The City Centre
In light of the ongoing problems with seagulls scavenging for food in the city centre, ripping open bags and making a mess of our streets, the City of Cardiff Council is deploying an additional cleansing and enforcement team between 5pm and 9pm – after the day shift has finished.
Currently it is the breeding season for gulls. These birds are very intelligent and are a protected species under UK Law. This new operation is being brought in to manage the issues that continue to arise during the breeding season.
The following additional resources will be deployed:
· An additional cleansing team will work between 5pm and 9pm focusing on Mill Lane, the Hayes and Lower St Mary’s Street
· The hours of the weekend cleansing crews will be extended to 9pm to collect/clean up commercial waste
· New bin storage areas will be put in Mill Lane. Until Planning Permission is secured two large containers will be put in place on Thursday, July 28th as an interim measure
· Locations for additional bin storage along St Mary Street and Caroline Street will be explored
· Additional enforcement officers will be deployed to monitor waste presentation times, how waste is presented and step up enforcement action against those that don’t abide by their section 47 notice (Environmental Protection Act)
· Commercial waste collection routes and times are being reviewed and changed to ensure that waste is on the street for the shortest time possible.
Cllr Bob Derbyshire, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: “We are taking all the measures possible to deploy additional resources to deal with the current issues. Cardiff is not the only city suffering with these issues, the Severn Estuary has one of the largest colonies of seagulls in the UK and other cities such as Bristol and Bath are experiencing the same problems.
“Other complaints relate to the increase in litter in our parks. During the hot weather the use of our parks increase and we ask everyone that use the parks to use the bins provided or if they are full to take their litter home. Everybody needs to take responsibility for litter and waste issues. If litter wasn’t dropped on the floor in the first place, there would be no need to spend £5 million pounds on street cleansing operations each year. We want a clean and tidy city, but we need everyone to play their part to ensure this happens.”
Cllr Bob Derbyshire continued:
“We are about to roll out a plan of action which will work towards delivering better street scenes for our residents. A new neighbourhood services approach will see teams from different departments come together to deep clean areas in the city. It’s really important that residents recognise that littering isn’t just a council problem. “
Louise Tambini, Operations Director for Keep Wales Tidy said: “We each have a part to play in cleaning up our communities- individuals, households, businesses and local authorities. No one likes to see litter strewn on our streets and if we all do our bit, from as simple as ensuring that we’re disposing of items correctly- using food waste bins, washing recycling and binning or taking our litter home with us then we can help improve the issue and make it less attractive for gulls and other wildlife to sift through our bins.
“We need to change behaviour in the long term and so education and enforcement is vital, but equally as important is engaging and working with communities and trialing other solutions that may help to incentivise people to do the right thing.
“Littering is not acceptable and if we all adopt this frame of mind and work together, we will make a positive difference.”
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