Pop money

By -
Column published in Llanelli Herald on 27th October 2017


I fondly remember looking for empty bottles of Corona to claim back the 10p from the pop man. Well, it seems this kind of scheme could be coming back. It’s now called a Deposit Return Scheme and its one of the ideas for reducing rubbish on our streets that I’ll be discussing at the joint Litter Taskforce I’ve set up with the Council.
The benefits of this sort of scheme hit home when, following one of my Big Clean-Up events in Bigyn, I was told that - of the 40 black bags of litter we collected - half was recyclable.  Almost all of these recyclables were plastic bottles or tin cans. That these were found on streets, kerbs and in hedges, suggests that they are viewed by many people as throwaway objects and it’s a massive waste. Plastic is particularly harmful. It doesn’t break down or decompose - when thrown on land it makes the soil less fertile and when thrown in water it chokes our ponds, rivers and oceans and harms sea life.  

 Wales leads the way for recycling in the UK – and globally.  Only two countries in the world recycle more than we do and the 5p charge for carrier bags has meant usage has dropped to a third of what it used to be. Introducing a deposit return scheme could help us do more. In Norway, 96% of all plastic bottles are returned thanks to these schemes - and I think it’s great news that the Welsh Government will be looking into the potential for them here in Wales.

This will be the third meeting of the Joint Litter Taskforce and I’m committed to to put politics to one side to work with the Plaid-run Council to try and make the streets of the whole Llanelli constituency cleaner. It’s an issue I stood for election on, and something I think really needs to change if we’re to rebuild pride in our communities.

At the meeting, we’ll discuss a wide-range of issues - from dog-fouling, to the difficulties accessing the dump, and from fly-tipping, to the lack of litter-bins and how complaints are handled.

Every time someone rings my office to discuss litter, or gets in touch via Facebook, I make a note of the concern and - with the help and support of the Council - I’ve pulled together this taskforce to come up with solutions to the issues that’ve been raised.
Right now I’m running a public poll on my Facebook page on how best we can reduce dog waste in our communities. I’ve been researching how other communities have tried to tackle this (quite literally) foul behaviour, and I’m asking people to vote on which schemes they think would work, as well as to add their suggestions. There’s still time to join the debate - please do visit my facebook page (facebook.com/leeforllanelli/) if you’d like to share your ideas.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2023 - 5 big changes in transport in Wales

By -
Image
Changing direction takes you to a different destination... We ask our transport system to do a lot of things, but we’ve not asked it to make its contribution to our shared challenge of reducing carbon emissions. Indeed, transport is the sector that has contributed the least to the legal duty to cut emissions. Unless that changes we will not meet our overall NetZero imperative . It is difficult for any incoming Transport Minister to change much in the short-term - road and rail projects take upwards of seven years to implement, and the ongoing pipeline of schemes means that significant spending has already been committed and political expectations raised by the time a new Minister takes office. Though the political spotlight is inevitably on short-term problems, significant change is a longer term project. Over and above the day-to-day activity of keeping a transport system on track I have tried to focus on how to ‘change the wiring’ to secure medium to long-term change. For all its ch
Read more

Transport for Wales 2.0

By -
Image
Speech to Transport for Wales senior management at Llys Cadwyn, TfW HQ, in Pontypridd on 6th February 2024 Diolch am y croeso a y cyfle. James Price and I meet regularly, and sometimes it feels like we’re in charge. But it really is a privilege to be in the same room as the people who actually do run transport in Wales. And it’s so nice to see people together. I’m still adjusting to meeting people in the flesh who I’m used to seeing online; I still can’t believe how short everyone is when I meet them! Apart from the ones I already knew were short, obviously (you know who you are). The worst thing about those mass Teams calls is that I can’t see people’s reactions to what I’m saying – to confirm that they are drifting off.  So at least I’ll know for sure today that I am boring you – the people in the room at least. It won’t stop me, but it gets rid of the uncertainty. I know we’ve priced-in that politicians' speeches will be insincere, but I really do mean what I say. And I
Read more

How much is a life worth?

By -
Image
  So what will the cost to the economy be of a safer speed limit in residential areas?   The headline figure that has been estimated is 4.5 Billion.  It is an arresting figure, but it isn’t really what it seems.  As part of the  Explanatory Memorandum  we have to publish we have to produce an estimate of costs and benefits. And we have to use the approach set out in the  UK Treasury’s Green Book  for evaluating schemes.   And we have to try and put a financial value to this, but of course there are some things you cannot measure: the grief to a family of a child killed on their street; the social value of meeting neighbors in the street and chatting, the absence of stress from engine noise that is louder in a street with a 30mph limit.  Those things and more aren’t captured by the Treasury Green Book.  It measures what it can, and it tries to put a monetary value next to it. And as the Explanatory Memorandum makes clear there is a lot of uncertainty about these figures. 
Read more