More than 50 pupils from Fochriw Primary School volunteered their time to collect around 20 tonnes of fly-tipped rubbish from Gelligaer and Merthyr Common.
The clean-up was co-ordinated by Caerphilly and Merthyr Tydfil councils and supported by the likes of Cwm y Mynydd Rural Development Programme, National Resources Wales, Fly-tipping Action Wales and Keep Wales Tidy.
Items collected included building waste, household waste, fridges and televisions.
Jayne Carter, Community Officer at Fly-tipping Action Wales, said: “We are so grateful to the local residents and organisations for their participation. It’s such a shame to see commonly used areas like these contaminated with hazardous items which, when left unmanaged, can cause significant harm to the environment.”
Andrew King, Keep Wales Tidy Project Officer, added: “It was great to see so many agencies working together on this project. It is a crime to fly-tip but, unfortunately, it seems remains a big issue in many parts of Wales.”
Well done to all the volunteers involved – and shame on all the so called “adults”who dumped the fly tipped rubbish on Gelligaer common.
An excellent scheme, the litter being picked up is an important environmental improvement but this exercise has a much greater impact than that alone. By involving young people it fixes in their mind that dropping rubbbish in the countryside is wrong and that someone has to work hard to clear it up.
Lessons learned when we are young tend to stick with us and these children now are much more likely to be responsible, when disposing of rubbish, when they grow into adults. Well done to all concerned with this very worthwhile project.
Well done to all the kids that helped out clearing the area. But surely this is a job for properly trained council workers if there is hazadous material there. Its great to teach the children about fly tipping, but lets not use them as slave labour. Lets see the council wardens clearing up such mess, it will give them a purpose and work to do instead of driving around. Im surprised that one warden was out of his van, he is one of the main culprits for driving around doing nothing.
I sort of agree with you Edward but on reflection I think the benefit to the young people involved out weighs any risk. Working on this will do them good and they will also remember the experience which will provide a lot of useful gains to future society.
Like a lot of good projects it is difficult to quantify benefits but I think this one, I hope I am right, may pay for itself several times over.
I just don’t think that children should be picking up hazardous waste. In these days we have used needles left around and these children could hurt themselves. If they are to do a litter pick (as nanny state as this sounds) the area should be checked first for any dangerous items.
Fair comment – but I bet this was risk assessed to the hilt before work started. Have to do that these days.