(Image: Cardiff Rivers Group)
Last Updated: 2 hours ago
Volunteers wading through the waters at Mermaid Quay discovered a strange haul lurking beneath the surface – including children’s car seats, rubber ducks and road cones – during a weekend clean-up operation in Cardiff Bay.
The collection on Saturday was organised by Cardiff Rivers Group as part of Spring Clean Cymru, a campaign encouraging communities across Wales to tackle litter in their local areas. Dozens of people turned out to help, filling 59 red bags of waste as well as a skip.
What lies beneath
Founding member Dave King said the sheer volume of wood and natural debris washing down the River Taff disguises the true scale of the problem underneath.
“It’s only when you’re standing on it you realise how much is there,” he said. “There are pockets where the rubbish gathers and almost becomes a polystyrene soup which is impossible for us to do anything about.”
512 clean-ups and counting
Saturday’s effort marked the group’s 512th clean-up since it was established in 2009. Despite growing public awareness about the damage caused by littering, King said the amount of rubbish they find has stayed “about the same” over the years.
He acknowledged the group sometimes faces criticism, with people calling the collections a “waste of time” – but pushed back firmly.
“In an ideal world people wouldn’t throw litter into the river in the first place so no one has to spend their time picking it up,” he said.
King described Cardiff as a “fantastic place” but one “blighted by flytipping and littering”, and praised the volunteers who make the work possible.
“Without our fantastic volunteers, we wouldn’t get anything done. They come out in all weathers and do whatever is asked of them,” he said.
A rewarding moment
One volunteer returned to the Mermaid Quay site after the clean-up to find two swans building a nest in the area they had just cleared. King called it “amazing” and said moments like that make the effort “worthwhile”.
The bigger picture
According to BBC Wales, Cardiff Council clears around 450 tonnes of waste from the Bay every year. A spokesperson said the authority faces “a constant battle against the litter which flows downstream having being discarded upriver”.
“If waste was disposed of correctly, none of this would be necessary. There simply is no excuse for littering or fly-tipping. Bins are available and are emptied regularly, and if a bin is full or there isn’t one nearby, waste should be taken home to be disposed of responsibly,” they added.
