More wheelie bins need to be provided to stop overflowing bins for houses of multiple occupancy being ripped apart by animals and strewn around the streets of Cathays, say residents.
Households of six or more people can request a larger or extra bin for waste that cannot be recycled, according to Cardiff Council’s website.
However, as a student area, many properties in Cathays can house as many as 12 people and leads to bin bags quickly piling up.
With two being the maximum number of bins each house can request, the streets of Cathays often look like a rubbish dump, according to residents
Blythe Hughes-Davies, a student who live in Cathays, says it’s unfair that students are being blamed for this.
“We are a house of nine people and within a day we can fill a bin – so two bins just isn’t enough,” she said.
“When we phoned for a recycling bin, which is where most of our waste goes, they said these are not provided.
“We sometimes have eight recycling bags just left outside with all the contents spilled onto the streets. We need somewhere to put this waste.”
Students are asking for more clarity around whether other recycling capacity is provided – and if so where – as bin bags pile up outside peoples houses and sometimes on the street if houses do not have gardens.
Norma Mackie, a Labour Councillor for the area, says houses of multiple occupancy should be given enough bins.
“They are supposed to have adequate space to hold enough bins for the people in there, so there should be enough space and we provide the bins,” she said.
Yet with two wheelie bins being the maximum a house can request, and confusion over where recycling bags can be accessed, more clarity is needed for houses with multiple occupants in Cathays.