Chippy Lane was littered with rubbish at 10pm on Saturday night but by Sunday morning it had all gone
THE Six Nations and a night out go hand in hand in Cardiff as rugby fans spill out of the stadium, pubs and clubs to head to the famous Chippy Lane to end their night.
Wales played two home games in the Six Nations this year, against Ireland on February 22 and England on March 15, and some fans took this as an excuse to throw their post-match kebabs all over Cardiff city centre.
This issue arises after most big events in the capital but is particularly rife after Six Nations games.
Following both of Wales’ home games of the 2025 Six Nations, Caroline Street, also known as Chippy Lane, was littered with chip boxes and rubbish piled high around the bins.
According to South Wales Police, between 30,000 and 40,000 people are out in town on an average night out – but this number jumps to as high as 100,000 when the stadium is hosting a big event.
This means that after a game day, up to 8.5 tonnes of rubbish is left on the streets across Cardiff by fans and others out for the evening.
Most of the rubbish I saw on Chippy Lane were used chip boxes, for reference the average chip box weighs up to 100 grams which means there could be up to the equivalent of 85,000 chip boxes left on the streets of Cardiff after game day.
If you stacked all those chip boxes on top of each other it would reach a staggering height of 6,800 metres.
Obviously not all the rubbish is made up of chip boxes but it is still a mammoth task to clean it all up.
So, how is all this managed and who cleans it?
Cardiff Council has a three-step system in place to make sure the city centre is looking spick and span the morning after a big event.
Step 1
Before the game or concert takes place, the whole city is cleaned with all litter bins being totally emptied.
Step 2
When everyone has gone into the stadium, the bins are emptied again while the streets are cleaned. The cleaning crews leave the city again before the event ends.
Step 3
Between 3am and 4am the morning after the event the crews return to do the final clean up. This can take up to five hours depending on how much rubbish is collected.
When the crowd at a city centre event numbers more than 72,000 people, the cleaning crews do not go out onto the streets until it has dispersed.
An FOI was submitted to Cardiff Council for the data from the night of the Wales v Ireland game, but said “the data held, would include weights from waste collected from outside of the city centre. As such it would not be possible to break down the figure for only waste from the city centre or Chippy Lane specifically.”
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After Wales’ final game against England the story was the same with rubbish once again thrown around the street.
“It’s like walking around a pig sty honestly,” said Matthew, a visiting fan from England who did not want to give his last name.
The mess prompted many people to take to TikTok to upload their videos of Chippy Lane on Saturday night.
One commenter on @Lilliwilliamsxxx video said “I slipped three times in one night walking down Chippy Lane.”
Another said “Ahhh chippy lane Cardiff… now I know where to get free chips after a night out.”
But Cardiff Council’s team of hard-working street cleaners ensured that the famous Chippy Lane was looking its best the next morning, despite all of the mess.
