Swansea Council say they are looking at clearing tonnes of rubbish along main roads in the city, much of which is thought to have been thrown from car windows by irresponsible motorists.
The new ‘Long Roads Cleansing Team’ is tasked with targeting roads that generally link between communities and more often than not, do not feature pavements, making it difficult to safely carry out normal litter picking duties.
The team will also tackle and remove vegetation and general detritus which gathers around the many traffic islands and roundabouts in Swansea and complements the existing Highways Team that already carries out similar functions on Swansea’s faster and higher risk roads and dual carriageways.
One road to already benefit from the new service is between Glais and Birchgrove, where around half a tonne of litter has been retrieved from the road, grass verges and hedges.
Cyril Anderson, Cabinet Member for Community said: “The council carries out daily and weekly litter picks all across the city, particularly in busy public areas.
“The routes we are targeting as part of this latest litter clearance scheme are not generally considered as walking routes, so the assumption is that some motorists are throwing these items from their car window when passing through the area.
“The lack of pavements on these routes make it more difficult to carry out regular litter picking. That’s why we have created this new team, which will also be accompanied by traffic management vehicles and signs that can assist in warning passing motorists about their presence on the road.
“We’ve recently completed litter clearance along a road between Glais and Birchgrove and I was shocked with the amount of litter that has been collected.
“The council is doing its best to keep Swansea clean and litter free but we need the public to play their part and look after their local environment.”
The latest clean-up project follows on from the successful introduction of the Cleansing Waste Operatives Teams (CWOT) which sees teams going into communities every week, targeting areas of overgrown vegetation, clearing pavements and steps as well as tidying up lanes.
Cllr Anderson, said: “We made a commitment to residents that we would make Swansea a better, cleaner place to live. We have put significant investment (£2million) into this and all these schemes help promote Swansea as a clean city and a place residents can be proud of.”
Sadly Parents are challenged and/or don’t teach their Children not to drop litter,this runs through Generations.