Dumped rubbish – glass, cans, and bits of plastic – can injure people and animals, pollute water courses and cause unsightly blots around our historic town and scenic countryside.
Now, a pioneering project by Keep Abergavenny Tidy (KAT) is looking at ways to deter litter droppers and encourage them to bin their rubbish or take it home for safe disposal.
But they need more volunteers to carry out litter counts during a six-week trial and have launched an appeal for people who care about the environment to come forward.
The project will focus on recording how much rubbish is dropped in selected hot-spots. The data collected will be a starting point to assess what measures would deter littering and then be rolled out to other areas.
Guidance and support would be offered. If you are interested, please contact keepabergavennytidy@gmail.com.
The project by the volunteer litter-picking group follows a multi-agency meeting held to discuss strategies to deter littering. KAT coordinator Helen Trevor Davies said a strong start had already been made with the help of Keep Wales Tidy.
KAT is also working with Monmouthshire County Council, Abergavenny Town Council and Gwent Police on the initiative. “The aim is to pool resources and plan effective interventions by creating a new anti-litter strategy and policy,” she said.”
In addition, KAT aims to get more businesses involved with creating litter-free zones. A survey of businesses in lower Cross Street will be finished shortly and others are planned for Nevill Street and Frogmore Street. One businessman, Paul Cable from Cable News in Frogmore Street, has already joined the initiative.
Other partnerships have included working with Cantref Primary School in a litter picking event to raise funds for school eco bins; and KAT is now working with Gwent Police to support the Eco Committee at King Henry VIII School with another pick.
Links have been made with Abergavenny Community Enterprise Partnership (ACE) chaired by Norma Watkins. The ACE centre in Hillcrest Road have plans to become a hub where litter kits will be available for loan.
The KAT coordinator praised the work of all local litter-pickers “Although the group picks are held in Abergavenny there are litter pickers in Llanfoist, Govilon, on the Blorenge up to Keepers Pond, Mardy and in Llanvetherine. Others litter pick at the Hardwick roundabout and in the laybys off the A465.
Monthly picks are usually held on the first Tuesday of the month. The next is on Tuesday, February 7th, at 10am meeting in St Johns Square. Litter picking kits are available to borrow. Please book with stuartabercomcen@gmail.com and then collect them from Abergavenny Community Centre, based at the former Park Street school.
For updates, check the KAT Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/AberLitter/
or Instagram: www.instagram.com/aber_litter/
or Twitter @KeepAbergTidy.
Irena Morgan