Community litter-picking groups in Durham and Newport faced starkly different realities this week, as Durham City Riverscape volunteers neared a milestone of 1,000 collected rubbish bags along the River Wear, while Pride in Pill organizers in South Wales postponed a clean-up due to strict council bin-bag rules.
River Wear Volunteers Approach 1,000-Bag Milestone
Along the River Wear, volunteer efforts continue to notch significant tallies. Lead volunteer Graham Hollingwood noted that the group is now closing in on a cumulative milestone of 1,000 collected bags, stating that it just shows how much work goes into protecting our riverbanks and praising the “phenomenal” efforts of volunteers.
That milestone underscores what organizers describe as the heavy, ongoing labor required to protect local waterways. According to Durham City Riverscape reporting, the team has pulled tonnes of waste from the water since its inception, with their most daunting retrieval coming earlier this year when volunteers hoisted a full-sized fridge freezer out of the river. Lead volunteer Graham Hollingwood said pulling the full sized fridge freezer out of the river was their biggest challenge to date but the team proved equal to it.
While Durham volunteers push toward a major collection milestone, volunteer organizers in South Wales found themselves locked in a bureaucratic standstill. They say now they have been blocked by “petty” council orders which specify they should use Keep Wales Tidy bags for their collections, and that they failed to get a response when they asked for the bags.
Group founder Paul Murphy explained that local authorities previously asked him years ago not to use black bags and to use red bags. Having followed that directive for years, Murphy recently purchased more than 2,000 red bags, only to be informed that they can’t use them because they’re not the proper ones and are not red bags from Keep Wales Tidy.
“I’ve just bought more than 2,000 red bags and now they’re saying I can’t use them because they’re not the proper ones. They’re not red bags from Keep Wales Tidy.”
Photo: aol.com
Paul Murphy, founder of Pride in Pill, via AOL
Mr Murphy said he explained to the council that they had been using the same bags for years and years with no issues. He added that he had been trying to get them from Keep Wales Tidy for the last week, but had received no response, and noted that he had also asked the council for a number for Keep Wales Tidy and they haven’t got one. Pride in Pill said it had spent a week trying to contact Keep Wales Tidy and the designated engagement support officer but had received no response, with a group spokesman stating they had phoned all available numbers and left several messages. Some residents have described the situation as “petty” and called on the authority to focus on more pressing issues.
According to the municipal statement, the use of approved Keep Wales Tidy bags helps distinguish waste collected by community groups from fly-tipped material at disposal sites. Guidance about how to obtain the official bags – including through litter-picking hubs – is available online.
Saturday Morning Litter Pick in Norwich – (4 Bags Collected!)
For organizers on the ground, however, the restriction introduces practical hurdles. Murphy fears this change could limit how much litter they can collect during future events if bag supplies are restricted, explaining that if Keep Wales Tidy only gives him 20 bags, then he can only do 20 bags of rubbish instead of collecting 30 or 40 bags, and adding that at the moment he cannot do a litter pick until he gets hold of Keep Wales Tidy because he is not guaranteed Newport city council will pick those bags up.
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