Swansea Councillor Shocked by Rise in Fly-Tipping and Litter Issues

A Swansea councillor who regularly litter-picks said he was surprised how much time he spends on fly-tipping and litter issues after being elected for the first time two years ago.
Cllr Mark Tribe said Felindre – a rural part of his Llangyfelach ward – was a hotspot for larger-scale fly-tipping. Anything from mattresses and furniture to car parts could, he said, be dumped on its roads.
The council said it received 2,316 reports of fly-tipping in 2023-24 up from 1,898 the previous year – a rise of 22%. In 2019-20 the figure was 1,425.
Cllr Tribe said he litter-picked at weekends a couple of times a month with a fellow volunteer or volunteers in Felindre or Llangyfelach, often filling several bags with fast-food litter scattered on the roadside.
He recalled a conversation with a couple from Poland who were renting a chalet in Felindre. “The woman said it was a staggeringly beautiful area, but that in Poland they didn’t get all the waste (rubbish),” he said.
Cllr Tribe said he’d recently found 12 bags of rubbish in a stream in Felindre, which he reported to the council and which were subsequently retrieved. Cllr Tribe said paperwork found in the bags appeared to identify where it had come from.
He praised the council’s waste removal teams and said he had requested that the authority deployed CCTV in hotspots. “They said they couldn’t justify the costs,” he said.
Cllr Cyril Anderson, cabinet member for community, said: “It’s disappointing to see that a minority of residents are continuing to fly-tip household waste rather than dispose of it correctly.
“We are doing everything we can to deal with incidents of fly-tipping that are reported to us. This includes efforts to identify those responsible and take appropriate action. Fly-tipping comes at a cost to the council and it is money we would prefer to invest elsewhere.”
A council spokesman said many of the 2,316 reports in 2023-24 were small-scale fly-tipping such as a couple of black bags left by a street bin.
The council added ward cleaning units to its existing waste teams 18 months ago which go round the county removing litter, fly-tipped waste, and cutting back overgrown vegetation.
Cllr Anderson said: “The majority of residents are doing the right thing and are helping this council keep Swansea clean and litter-free. I would urge residents to report any incidents of fly-tipping to us so we can continue to take action.”
The council carried out three fly-tipping prosecutions between April 1, 2023, and mid-August this year and also issued 41 fly-tipping fines.
Cllr Peter Black, who had requested up-to-date fly-tipping figures in a written question to the council, said the 20%-plus rise in fly-tipping reports in 2023-24 compared to the previous year was significant and should be ackowledged as such.
Cllr Black, who represents Cwmbrwla, called on the council to increase its enforcement activities, use CCTV in hotspots, and better publicise how members of the public can help. “They should also review their policies so that the public can take black bag-type rubbish to additional waste and recycling centres,” he said.
The written response to Cllr Black listed how many occasions fly-tipped waste was removed from each ward in Swansea between April 1, 2023, and mid-August this year. The total figure came to 4,862, but this included waste fly-tipping teams removed as they went about their work as well fly-tipping reports received by the council. Around a third of all waste removal was from two wards – Castle, which covers the city centre and some surrounding areas, and Uplands, which is densely populated and popular with students. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​