Newport Gwent Dragons Clean Up Caerphilly
Two big and strong Dragons will assist the deputy minister for Regeneration, Leighton Andrews AM to launch the 2008 Heads of the Valley Spring Clean in Abertwsswg Community Centre at 12pm on Monday 21st April.
Newport Gwent Dragons talent Ashley Smith and Richard Wilkes will join volunteers from schools and community groups to demonstrate their love for the local area by getting involved with council staff in a variety of events including: vegetation and litter clearance, flytipping, flyposting, graffiti and chewing gum removal.
The players said; ‘We are very happy to be able to take part in this important launch event. Each and every one of us has a role to play in helping to create a clean, safe and tidy Wales We feel that it is our duty as a club to lead by example and hope that hundreds of people will take part in this week of environmental activities to improve the Heads of the Valleys area’.
Leighton Andrews said the wide range of activities at this year’s Spring Clean event were designed to promote environmental awareness and encourage recycling of waste as well as clearing up areas of the built and natural environment that were being ruined through the activities of a thoughtless minority.
“It is very encouraging that so many people participate in the annual Spring Clean event and take a pride in their communities and are actively working to make a difference.
“I am also particularly pleased that school children are actively participating and being taught to understand at an early age to respect their environment and that there is no excuse for dumping rubbish in our streets or dropping litter in the countryside or defacing buildings with graffitti.
“Apart from the visual impact this can create it is also an extremely costly business to clear up afterwards. But the damage isn’t just being done by the obvious culprits - we all know that fly tipping creates eyesores and cause health hazards but people who thoughtlessly dispose of chewing gum on our streets and pavements are equally guilty.
“It is estimated that some 3.5 billion pieces of gum are thoughtlessly discarded every year in the UK and it was estimated in the late 1990s that it was costing around £150million a year to clean up this mess. The Spring Clean will help highlight some of these problems and I wish the campaign every success.”
Local Schools Abertwsswg Primary and Rhymney Comprehensive will be litter picking the local park and their school grounds, as well as participating in workshops with the Council to create artwork with the litter collected, giving them the chance to enter the Keep Wales Tidy Schools competition with a prize of £500.
Following on from the Big Clean up of Abertwsswg on Monday, there will be a full week of Spring Clean activities across the borough organised by volunteers and Caerphilly County Borough Council.
Tuesday will see the promotion of compost containers and information relating to green waste, Wednesday there will be an exhibition trailer at New Tredegar Resource Centre featuring the Real Nappy Campaign, Excellence Wales and Keep Wales Tidy, with the Environment Agency undertaking a clean up of the area.
Thursday is the ‘No ifs, No Butts’ campaign in Bargoed and the week will culminate with a Car Litter Camapign and clean up of the A465.
To assist groups, Keep Wales Tidy has produced free clean-up kits available to anyone
taking part. The kits, sponsored by the Heads of the Valleys Programme, include guidance
notes on how to organise a fun, safe clean-up event, publicity materials and tabards to keep
participants clean and dry. Caerphilly County Borough Council has also pledged support to the campaign by providing litter and recycling bags, gloves, litter pickers and litter collection to those taking part.
There are limited kits available, so to register for your free clean-up kit, simply contact Keep
Wales Tidy on 029 2072 6962, email: hov@keepwalestidy.org or visit the website: www.keepwalestidy.org
