Artists want to encourage people to object to the plan before the deadline for feedback on Friday
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners Extinction Rebellion have painted two murals in a protest over plans for a second waste incinerator in Cardiff.
One piece of art is in Adamsdown and is the most recent instalment of the Pearls of Pearl Street street-art project, while the second is next to a Volkswagen garage in Splott. They show silhouettes of children and balloons reading: “Stop killing us.”
An Extinction Rebellion activist who wishes to be known as Lex said: “It is fact that dirty air will take years off a life on average. The punchy, blunt message that you’re killing us is to cut through the malaise that is going around.”
“By taking the people out of the image, you’ve got the essence of the pollution circulating but also the hollow because the person is gone,” added Lex, who helped paint the murals.
Plans to construct the Mor Hafren Energy Recovery Facility in St Mellons have attracted opposition from groups such as Residents Against the CF3 Incinerator because of concerns about poor air quality.
The deadline for residents to offer feedback to the Developments of National Significance Planning Inspectorate is Friday, November 27.
“We had a direct message we wanted to deliver – we were conscious that objections had to be in by the end of the month,” said Lex.
“Poor air quality needs to be resolved across the country and it will be the vulnerable who are affected more,” he continued.
“We need to be able to say, ‘look, you don’t have to take this.’ Nobody wants to take this. Would they stand for it in a well-to-do area? No – and you don’t have to stand for it either.”
One of the murals is painted outside the home of musician, Sianed Jones, who started the Pearls of Pearl Street project in 2017.
“Pearls of Pearls Street has been about poetry and beauty and joy – things that can inspire people as they drive past,” said Ms Jones.
One of her previous murals included an Extinction Rebellion symbol and was spotted by the XR Cardiff branch.
“One of the things we struggle with as artists is finding walls to paint on,” explained Lex. “So when we saw the Pearls of Pearl Street mural we thought they would be a sympathetic household to work with.”
- To submit feedback on the Mor Hafren incinerator before the deadline on Friday, visit the Department of National Significance Planning Inspectorate website.
