Countys war on litter (From Western Telegraph)

Countys war on litter

Pembrokeshire County Council has declared war on litter.

With the help of the Western Telegraph, the council today (Wednesday) launches a Pride In Pembrokeshire campaign to make the county a cleaner and healthier place to live.

But it can only succeed with the help of you, the reader. Said Councillor Brian Hall, chairman of Pembrokeshire County Councils highways and transportation committee: The authority is fighting a constant battle to keep our roads and streets clean. We think the time has come to fight back and we are grateful to the Western Telegraph which will be our partners in this exciting project, publicising our efforts in the coming months.

Keeping Pembrokeshire free of litter is an expensive job. Last year it cost the county council over £1 million to keep our roads and streets tidy. Over half of that figure was spent on manual sweeping and litter picking carried out by 43 council employees, while over £230,000 went on operating the authoritys six lorry-based mechanical road sweeping machines. The remainder of the cleaning bill was spent on beach cleaning.

Councillor Hall said that the councils clean-and-tidy teams, as they are called, frequently blitz Pembrokeshires most notorious litter hotspots. For instance there are over 20 of them in rural areas, ranging from car parks near Fishguard port to access roads to Freshwater West beach, he explained.

Sadly, all too often if you return to the same location just a day or two after the clean-up, you wouldnt guess that the workmen had ever been there, such is the amount of discarded rubbish. Its not the workmen who are dropping the litter, but members of the public. I think its the duty of all of us to help in any way we can by respecting the communities we live in, hence our slogan Pride In Pembrokeshire.

We can all make a difference, not only by disposing of rubbish properly but by organising and taking part in litter-picks in the areas in which we live.

There are voluntary groups who do carry out this valuable work and Pembrokeshire County Council is willing to provide the helpers with rubbish bags, gloves and safety jackets as well as arranging for the prompt collection of the litter bags. Ideally we could get whole communities involved and perhaps offer a Pride In Pembrokeshire prize for those who make the most valuable contribution.

To launch the anti-litter campaign, Pembrokeshire County Council is asking Western Telegraph readers to report litter hotspots to the authoritys Pembrokeshire Service Line.

This telephone hotline, opened recently at the councils main operational depot at Thornton in Milford Haven, deals with inquiries from members of the public relating to all the authoritys municipal services. It will enable the council to send its anti-litter workforce out to blitz these problem areas.

The hotline number to ring is: 0845 602 1386.