28 Jan 2010
Nation’s streets getting cleaner
Results announced today by environmental campaigners Keep Wales Tidy show that whilst most of Wales’s streets are blighted by varying levels of litter, the good news is that there has been an overall reduction in the various types of litter recorded by the survey teams. The report, ‘How clean are our streets?’, shows in detail how much rubbish is on the ground, and where.
During the past 12 months, surveyors visited every local authority in Wales to carry out detailed inspections of an agreed percentage of town centres, and both high and low density residential locations. Using Welsh Assembly Government approved methodology, a total of 3,464 streets and 108 functional sites were thoroughly inspected and the findings recorded.
Only 1.9% of streets were found to be free of any litter but compared to the previous year’s survey, the overall cleanliness index across Wales had improved from 65 to 66.87.
The most dominant type of litter present was smoking related, which was found on an average of 86% of locations, the worst affected being Cardiff, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taf. But results do show a 4% decrease in the presence of smoking litter compared to the previous year.
Fourteen local authorities were shown to have improved the cleanliness of their streets but eight had failed to improve on last year’s results. In percentage terms Monmouthshire and Newport topped the list of improving counties but the overall CI in Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merthyr Tydfil and Torfaen declined when compared with their 2007–2008 results. The highest cleanliness index was found in Conwy with Blaenau Gwent and Cardiff achieving the lowest results.
In terms of specific litter, 81.7% of the streets in Blaenau Gwent were affected by drinks related litter and 28.3% of the streets in Cardiff were affected by discarded fast food.
Business waste, which includes headed paper, envelopes, advertising flyers and red elastic bands generally used by the Post Office, was present on an average of 18.3% of streets. The bands were found on 21.15% of streets in Merthyr Tydfil and the lowest percentage of elastic band strewn streets were found in Conwy. Flintshire had a 40% drop in business waste, whilst Anglesey had a 15% increase.
Dog fouling was observed to be a major problem in Blaenau Gwent but in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Neath Port Talbot there was some good news as no acts of vandalism were found at the survey locations. However, Ceredigion was let down by the recorded incidents of fly-posting with 14.0% of sites affected compared to zero affected sites in Monmouthshire, Anglesey and Caerphilly.
Also included in the report are recommendations to local authorities on how to alleviate some of the problems identified. High on the list is a call to councils to use existing enforcement powers and to encourage community involvement in the battle to sustainably improve local environments.
The Environment Minister, Jane Davidson commented:
" I am pleased to see that that there has been an overall increase in the cleanliness of town centres across Wales. The presence of smoking related litter is still high but I am encouraged that this and other litter issues are being tackled by a number of local authorities with the help of Keep Wales Tidy. Wales is making steady progress in becoming a cleaner nation and I look forward to further improvements in the future."
Tegryn Jones, Chief Executive for Keep Wales Tidy, commented:
"Were it not for the presence of smoking related litter, our streets would have achieved a much better cleanliness score, a sad fact that has led us to mount our biggest ever smoking litter campaign. It’s obvious that smokers do not realise that they are letting Wales down by not binning their butts and we plan to remind them of their social and legal obligations."
To read the report, click here
Notes to Editors
1. For further information please telephone:
- Wynne Williams, Communications Manager, Keep Wales Tidy on
01286 674081, Mobile 07824 504791
- Jeanie Gray, Policy Manager on 029 2072 6961.
2. Keep Wales Tidy is a registered Environmental Charity working for the improvement of Wales’s local environments. More information about Keep Wales Tidy can be found on our website: www.keepwalestidy.co.uk