At Wrexham Council we are working with Keep Wales Tidy to deliver Caru Cymru, the biggest ever initiative to eradicate litter and waste (with all 22 local authorities in Wales taking part).
The Caru Cymru project aims to inspire everyone to take action and care for the environment.
The vision for Caru Cymru (a Welsh phrase meaning ‘Love Wales’) is that it will become second nature for people to do the right thing, by taking litter home and cleaning up after their dog, recycling ‘on-the-go’, and also reusing/ repairing items.
Litter picking hubs
There are several active litter picking hubs placed around Wrexham where you can borrow equipment for free, to support the campaign.
The litter picking kit you can borrow includes pickers, high visibility vests, green bags and hoops for holding open the bags.
Users are also insured whilst using the kits on Keep Wales Tidy’s insurance.
Litter Free Zones
Businesses and schools can ‘adopt’ an area local to them and help keep it clean through regular litter picks.
Schools are given their own free litter picking kit when they sign up. The kits include:
- a pack of 5 or 10 litter pickers
- high visibility vests
- hoops for bags
- green or red sacks for litter picks
You can also request equipment in a smaller size, for younger children.
Free digital resources will be available to promote your new status. The Keep Wales Tidy project officer and the Caru Cymru Officer for Wrexham will also be able to provide support and promote your status.
The Keep Wales Tidy officer will set your school/business up on our recording system where you will need to log your litter picks through the free Epicollect app (or website) and be able to share this information for publicity and to provide evidence for any funding.
Duty of Care
We all have a ‘Duty of Care’ to make sure that our waste is disposed of responsibly and safely. If you fail to meet this duty of care, you could receive a £300 fixed penalty notice (FPN) – or an unlimited fine if prosecuted.
When a trader takes your household waste it then becomes trade waste – meaning they cannot take it to any of Wrexham’s three household recycling centres. Trade waste always needs to be taken to a designated waste site instead.
Remember you can take your own household waste to your local household recycling centre for free. You can also request a bulky household item removal if you have items that are too large or too heavy to be taken away with the normal bin collections.
If you decide to go to a trader instead you should follow these steps:
Dog fouling
Leave only pawprints
Dogs in the UK produce approximately 1000 tonnes of faeces every day and dog-fouling is top of many people’s list of concerns about waste found on the streets.
As well as carrying harmful bugs, which can lead to infection, asthma and even blindness, all sorts of worm and bacteria can live in soil long after the dog mess has decomposed.
Toxocara T.Canis is an infection caused by roundworm parasites, which can spread from dogs to humans via infected faeces. Children are the most likely to be exposed to the infection whilst playing in parks and playgrounds.
There are Dog Control Orders in place in Wrexham County Borough, to manage the handling and behaviour of dogs. The orders cover dog fouling, and excludes dogs from children’s play areas, market sports pitches and bowling greens.
Dog owner responsibility
By law, if you are a dog owner/handler you must pick up faeces left by your dog in public spaces. If you do not, you could be given a £75 fixed penalty notice (which are given as an alternative to a prosecution in court).
Picking up after your dog is easy, and freshly deposited faeces are not infectious. Although there are many dog-fouling bins around, bagged dog fouling can also be disposed of in general litter bins. If there is not a bin nearby, it should be disposed of responsibly back home.
It is an offence not to have something with you to remove dog fouling when walking your dog.