Category Archives: St Mellons

Event 191: Cath Cobb Woods, St Mellons (23 March 2019)

As part of Keep Wales Tidy’s ‘Spring Clean Cymru’ campaign, 34 volunteers from Cardiff Rivers Group spent 2 hours removing litter and waste from Cath Cobb woods and stream in St Mellons.

Sadly, this lovely habitat was full of litter and waste.

 

The volunteers collected an amazing 86 bags of rubbish, plus many larger items, including 6 shopping trolleys, 3 bikes, bits of metal fencing, a wheelchair, a pushchair, several footballs and some car tyres.

The team even found a packet of ‘The Real Ghostbusters’ crisps from 1992, which shows just how long litter can stick around.

Who you gonna call? Cardiff Rivers Group!

A number of volunteers spent the whole 2 hours removing rubbish-filled blockages from various parts of the stream to allow it to flow freely again.

A great morning’s work by everyone who came along!

 

The waste will be collected and disposed of by Cardiff Council.

More photos on Flickr.

Event 161: Faendre Reen, St Mellons (10 March 2018)

Over 20 volunteers — including some welcome new faces — did a fantastic job in and around Faendre Reen, St. Mellons, this morning, collecting more than 60 bags of litter (mostly plastic drinks bottles), plus a whole load of miscellaneous items (eg, toys, footballs, old carpets, clothing, discharged fire-extinguishers, a motorbike exhaust, and DIY/building waste).

Click to open a larger image in a new tab.

There was also quite a lot of polystyrene in the reen, a lot of it broken up into individual ‘beads’ that are impossible to remove by hand, creating a hazard for wildlife by choking them or clogging their digestive system.

Swan in Faendre Reen

Commenting on the litter-pick, Louise Tambini, a CRG committee member, said,

Unfortunately, it does seem that a lot of waste we removed today had been thrown over the back fences of houses. It then falls down the bank and into the Faendre Reen. This waste causes blockages and harms wildlife, as well as looking extremely unsightly. There are many other options for residents, including using the council’s bulky waste collection and donating unwanted toys to local charity shops. I just wish more residents disposed of their waste responsibly”.

Having found, and helped to remove, a large cable drum…

Large wooden cable drum
… one volunteer decided to go on well-earned holiday with a suitcase he’d found.

More photos on the CRG Flikr page.

And check out our upcoming events for one near you!

Event 126: Faendre Reen, St Mellons

On Sunday 15 May, Cardiff Rivers Group returned to a littering and fly-tipping blackspot — Faendre Reen in St Mellons, which, sadly, has become a disgrace to both to St Mellons and Cardiff.

The event attracted a terrific turnout, with over 30 people from a variety of organisations, including Cardiff Parks, Keep Wales Tidy, Friends of Bute Park,  Pentewan ‘litter champions’, and the St David’s Hotel & Spa, plus the usual  (perhaps that should be unusual) suspects from CRG.

The site was surveyed in March and there are 29 photos on Facebook of the filth and rubbish we expected.

working 1

Together the volunteers gathered over 4 truck loads of rubbish, ranging from unwanted (and remarkably new-looking) children’s toys, clothing, duvet, kitchen utensils, domestic appliances — TVs, vacuum cleaners, toasters and suchlike —  and numerous bags of miscellaneous rubbish.  Much of it was stuff that irresponsible residents had just thrown over their garden fences rather than put out for collection.

Piles of rubbish collected

But this week’s “star finds” were an electric quad bike, which was causing a major blockage in the stream, and an unopened bottle of champagne!

An electric quad bike

Many of the items were perfectly suitable for re-use or recycling, so it was particularly disappointing to see them just thrown away. Volunteers did their best to find a home for some of the recovered items, and  salvaged plant pots, hanging baskets, scrap metal, and a load of wooden boards, amongst other things.

See more photos of the event on our Flickr page.

Group member, Louise Tambini said,

“It is tragic that in these times of austerity we live in such a throw-away society. I can’t believe how many things we found in the stream today that have simply been discarded when they could easily have be re-used. I would like to make a plea to people to dispose of unwanted goods responsibly by taking them to charity shops, or using services such as freecycle, and NOT causing damage to local habitats by throwing them in nearby woods or watercourses.”

And Dave King, event organiser for CRG said,

This is another great example of collaborative partnership working , making a positive difference to the environment in Cardiff. By working together, the public sector, third sector, business and the community can collectively really make a tremendous difference in such a short time, and have fun doing it! The only disappointment was that no locals actually showed up, although a few people did ask about future events they could help with.”

Our thanks, once again, to Cardiff Council Parks Service, who promptly disposed of all the rubbish collected.

After the event, several thirsty volunteers enjoyed a well-deserved pint in the beer garden at The Fox & Hounds,  Chapel Row.

event 126 - pint

Our next event is on Saturday 4 June  — keep an eye on our calendar of Upcoming Events for more details nearer the time.