Thursday 30 October 2008

War on Waste in Wales: Recycle for Merthyr Tydfil


Creoso i Cymru. Bore da. Sut ydych i heddiw? That's "Welcome to Wales". "Good Morning" and "How are you today?"

Unfortunately that's about as much Welsh as I can remember from my schooldays but I'm now happy to add to Rhyfel ar Wastraff (war on waste) to my vocabulary and indeed Ailgylchu dros Ferthyr Tudful (recycle for Merthyr Tydfil).

Now, if you're thinking this is all a bit random (and indeed it is), I'm simply recovering from a whirlwind trip, where we got up early and drove to Wales to see my family and drove through the night to arrive back in Suffolk just as the clock struck midnight.

And indeed, here I am, back at my computer with hair like Russell Brand, which is my normal look if I haven't made it into the shower.

However, I'm also sitting here with Bin Envy!

As soon as we got to my mum's house yesterday, or rather mam's house, she got very excitable and dragged me into the kitchen to look at a pair of bins that have revolutionised waste collection in the Merthyr Tydfil valley.

And here they are, a pair of diddy blue bins, comprising a little caddy for collecting food waste in the kitchen and a larger (but still fairly small) bin for putting out on bin day.



The small bin comes with its very own cornstarch liner so that it doesn't even get dirty. And look at what you can put in it:



The food waste is collected every week for in-vessel composting, which according to the organisation Environment for Wales, is the first purpose built facility in Wales.

Now my mum is very happy with this system but she has said there are people in the village that aren't so happy. One woman says she doesn't have any food waste so doesn't want extra bins. I guess the answer there is to send them back or use them for something else.

Another lady said she didn't like throwing food slops away. But hang on a minute, that's what they do anyway in the big black wheelie bins that are permanent fixtures of the street scene.


I remember living in this street, when wheelie bins didn't litter the pavement and you could walk along two-by-two rather than in single file. Just imagine, by reducing rubbish, recycling more and separating food waste in this way, it would be possible to elimate the ugly black bins from the terraced streets in the valleys.

I've just read that Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council has recently announced that it has come top of the league in the general Local Government performance indicator tables for Wales.
In a press release earlier this month Chief Executive, Alistair Neill commented on the result saying "This is really encouraging news for everybody involved in driving on performance within the Council"

He also said "Why don’t we all make the effort to become the best in Wales in recycling too?"

With progressive schemes like this being introduced, I've got a funny feeling that they might just make it. I hope they run a Zero Waste Week. That would be fun and I'd have some other new words to add to Welsh vocabulary too.

And Zero Waste in the valleys might just banish those wheelie bins forever!

Oh nearly forgot, the only other bit of Welsh I remember is "Mae gath yn eistedd yn y basged," Now if anyone can translate that, you will think that I really am bonkers. (Sigh - I think it's time to go wash my hair!)

Visit www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk for more local info.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you got back before midnight Cinderella; we don't want Mr A turning into a pumpkin.
But then I guess at least you could compost him :D

Glad your Mum is happy with her blue bin - I think we might be getting them in the near future - watch this space and all that.......

mrs G x

Rev. Peter Doodes said...

So, is your cat sitting in/by the basket?

katyboo1 said...

I once went to a wedding in Merthyr. Spent a sleepless night in a mad b&b with men driving their stereos with wheels up and down the street blasting out Born Slippy so loud it made my teeth ache until four in the morning. It was a memorable weekend!

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Mrs G - am just about recovered from our whirlwind trip. It was heavy going getting up early and going to bed very late. It's just a shame we couldn't have stayed over.
It'll be interesting to see how the bins go down in your area. I wonder if you'll get them in time for Christmas :-D x

Hi Peter - Ydy, you cracked it you dark horse. How about Mae ci yn eistedd ar y bwrdd? I promise that is the real extent of my primary school welsh. :-D

Hi Katyboo - ahhh, memories of Merthyr. I wonder if I was at the same wedding. I went to one around the same time. I promise it wasn't me driving backwards and forwards so loudly :-D

esther said...

great the blue compost bin and even more so with the compostable liners!!! great community!

Rev. Peter Doodes said...

My Father-in-Law came from Anglesey... Something about a dog in the flowers? You win on this one!

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Peter - ooops sorry about the late reply. I'm impressed with your knowledge of Welsh. Close, not flowers, but table. The dog is sitting on the table....as you can tell, with Welsh like that, I'm better off living in England.... ;-D

Layla said...

WOW! It's great the Welsh are doing so great: War on Waste! - WOW!! :)

& I thought your eggs & goat were in the basket.. :) hmm.. :))

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