Residents say the issue has been plaguing them for decades and is STILL impacting their communities
PEOPLE in Adamsdown and Splott say rubbish, litter, and fly-tipping has been a problem for decades but is still impacting their communities.
Julia Forrester, 44, has lived in Splott for 20 years and says waste, litter, and fly-tipping has been a problem since she first moved in.
At first she lived at Railway Crescent. People dumped stuff on the sides of roads and pavements and once even set light to discarded items.
Mrs Forrester said the Railway Gardens, a community hub in Splott, had a “massive problem at the moment” because a bin is attracting fly-tipping.
The hub, run by a group called Green Squirrel, has a green space in which people can learn how to grow their own produce, look after plants, and spend time with their neighbours.
“Anywhere there is rubbish that amasses it is a temptation for anyone to think ‘well no-one cares, we will just add ours too’.
“The bulky items remain there until the council gets around to it. We have community groups that do litter picks, but they just physically cannot cover the whole area. If they take these items down to the tip they charge them,” she said.
The organization KeepWalesTidy has litter picking groups across Cardiff that meet regularly.
Find an upcoming litter picking event near you:
When Mrs Forrester visited the site on Tuesday, February 13, the recent items had been removed.
Another Splott resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “The fly-tipping in Moorland Park and Seawall Road is awful. I reported fly-tipping in the park several times and the council ignored it.”
The figure above shows the number of reported incidents of fly-tipping in the whole of Cardiff. It shows a significant decrease between 2007 and 2009, but a relatively flat level from 2017 to 2023. This indicates that there has not been any significant reduction of reported fly-tipping incidents in at least the past five years.
Hannah Garcia at Railway Gardens told WalesOnline: “It badly affects our work in a number of ways. It is embarrassing to have to ask our community members to have to walk through rotting food and sanitary waste to get into the site. Many of our visitors are vulnerable or have reduced mobility and it is dangerous for them when there’s junk everywhere, or slippery decomposing food waste.”
Polly Zaffino, 27, moved to Adamsdown in 2018 and lives just off of Clifton Street.
She has noticed waste, dog mess and fly-tipping outside her flat and elsewhere.
“You will get anything from surplus bin bags to car parts – there was a bumper of a car there for two weeks,” she said.
“I have noticed that among the fly-tipping, more and more of it has drug littering with needles.”
However, she said the council responded more quickly when she reported drug needles.
Her best friend is a mother of three. “She has had to explain to them even if it is purple or green plastic on the floor, do not pick it up because there are disposable needles just left in places.”
A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said it carried out regular patrols and had infrared cameras in fly-tipping hotspots. Anyone caught could receive a fine of up to £50,000 or six months’ imprisonment.
“If anyone spots fly-tipping, the most effective way of reporting it to us, is via our website (www.cardiff.gov.uk/flytipping), or via our Cardiff Gov app. That way, we will have an exact location and all the information necessary to investigate,” said a Cardiff Council spokesperson.
“If you are paying for someone to remove waste from your home, ensure that they are registered to do so, or you could end up in court.
“Every business has a duty of care to dispose of their waste responsibly. Every business carrying waste must be licensed by Natural Resources of Wales and has to carry a Waste Transfer Notice to show where the waste is being taken from and which licensed facility the waste is being brought to.”
Splott councillor Jane Henshaw said: “Fly-tipping is something with us, which doesn’t go away, because it is challenging to deal with.”
She recommended that people download the Cardiff Gov app where you can check your bin collections and report fly-tipping.
“It is really brilliant, easy to use, and convenient,” she said.
