As the June 23 approaches you will be unable to avoid the slogan of ‘Keep Wales Tidy’. Even in the first week of the new month ‘please show your love for Wales’ has infiltrated the multi media outlets of Cardiff. With television adverts, Internet sites and posted pamphlets, it is evident that a nationwide campaign has been launched by the organisation.
And its aim? Well, it is all in the title. For a week in June, beginning the 23rd and ending the 29th, Keep Wales Tidy are to put the dominant concerns of the population (Wales’ aesthetic appearance needs a spring clean) to the test. They are doing this through inviting the whole Welsh nation to help ‘tidy’ (see what I did there!) the littered and vandalised black spots in towns, villages and the countryside.
They are hoping that people from every corner of the Welsh land will jump at the opportunity to be embodied into the community feel of improving the appearance and safety of the Wales’ environments.
Last year proved to be a success with over 24,000 people involving themselves with the clean up of their particular neighbourhoods. By the end of the action week, thousands of bags of litter had been recovered by the volunteers at more than 500 locations. Results showed that many long standing litter blots on the landscape had actually been eradicated.
However, this year the organisers have set particularly ambitious targets. They are aiming for 50,000 Welsh inhabitants to voluntarily get their hands dirty. For this to happen it would require more than double last year’s involvement. Nevertheless, Keep Wales Tidy have produced 1,000 free clean up kits. The kits, which have been sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government, are available on a first come, first served basis.
These kits have the power to increase the appeal and convenience of getting down and dirty. They contain posters, local authority contacts and a booklet explaining how to get the most from the week and volunteers. These seem intricate to any community wishing to make a different in Keep Wales Tidy, as the promotional aids provide the potential to use the resources most efficiently and recruit more individuals. Perhaps the problems of Cathays’ litter issues could be resolved by an inspirational ‘Show your love for Wales’ poster positioned in the Woodie…
Tegryn Jones, Chief Executive of Keep Wales Tidy, expressed the importance of this campaign, he said: “We hear constant complaints in the press and on TV about the state of our streets, beaches and rivers.” More specifically he pin points the significance of Keep Wales Tidy’s action week by demonstrating the power that we, the Welsh population, have in our hands (literal) to make a difference, “The truth is that resolving many of the problems highlighted lies in our selves.”
It is an inescapable fact that people create litter. In one week’s effort, the Welsh population, collectively, has the ability to positively affect the annual £50 million it costs to remove humans’ rubbish and waste. Tegryn Jones acknowledges that “we live in busy times”, yet asserts that merely a few hours “can improve the visual appearance of our surroundings”. He asks that we as the future generation “help make a difference”.
Keep Wales Tidy’s vision is of a clean, safe and tidy Wales. A paramount aim of this campaign, and the organisation as a whole, is to change people’s attitudes. In that individuals do not engage in activities that have a negative impact on Wales’ environments. The authority recognises that this can range from the issues of litter, fly-tipping and dog fouling to graffiti, fly-posting and abandoned vehicles can all have a negative impact on Wales’ landscape and targets these concerns in their approach to the population.
The agreed mission of Keep Wales Tidy is to ‘encourage action to maintain and improve the cleanliness of Wales’. It acknowledges that to maintain and or achieve a ‘tidy Wales’ then people must be encouraged to ‘behave in a responsible manner and take responsibility for their own local environment’. Undoubtedly this is a worthwhile cause and this article definitely asserts that we, the students of Wales, should involve ourselves within it. However, should we even need a week such as this to temporarily ‘change our attitudes’ towards litter and the aesthetic appearance of our neighbourhood?
gair rhydd’s Science and Environment asked some of Wales’ university students what they thought of this campaign in light of the wider issues it momentarily focuses upon. Angharad Ortiz, first year Astronomy and Welsh Cardiff student said: “The week of action is obviously a positive, for people need organizations and schemes like this to remind all of the importance of being litter aware. However, I only see this as a temporary effect. Although it is a good start to, quite literally, keeping Wales tidy.”
Whilst Kathrin Muehlegger, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) President of Glamorgan University, commented: “This is a truly fantastic way to project these issues to the forefront of the public agenda. However, it fails to address the slipping conduct of the Welsh nation as a whole, as ultimately it is teaching people the importance of throwing away, a principal value when living within a community; what is next, reminding people how to eat properly?”
Keeping Wales Tidy is a thoroughly legitimate organisation whose action week deserves the attention and participation of Welsh students. Its foundations speak volumes about the human race today in light of care for the planet. Lets hope it has the authority to make an impact larger than that of a seven day period.
