Thousands of tires have been drawn from a river in large cleaning to help the environment and wildlife.
In the last five days, the 6,000 tires that could have been there for decades have been removed from six excavators from the Ogor River, in Brindzh.
The organizers have described it as the largest River of the Wales Community, with hundreds of volunteers participating.
Two years ago, 2000 tires were removed from the bed of the river, along with up to 100 strollers and a refrigerator.
The organizers said this was only the beginning, adding that they were still only halfway and plan additional cleaning operations to remove all tires.
Alun Phillips manages the environmental charity, peace for nature and organizes cleaning.
“What we did a few years ago was just scratching the surface really. It was a little pilot to see if we should do it again and when we did it, everyone asked how we would take out the other tires.”
Mr. Phillips said this year cleaning also removed 10 tonnes of garbage as well as 6,000 tires.
“I believe there are a total of 13,000 tires to remove from the river. We have now removed 8,000 over two river cleanings.”
Six excavators were used to remove thousands of tires from the river bed. [BBC]
Hundreds of volunteers participated, including children from local schools and colleges.
G -H Phillips added: “With the participation of over 90 organizations, this is the largest river pure of Wales so far and we strive to continue to improve the environment in Wales with additional projects in the community.
“We have a community of companies that help here and have a community of volunteers, including schools and colleges, there is a lot of support.”
Hundreds of volunteers have participated in the river pure [BBC]
Kep Wales Tidy volunteers were involved in this year’s cleaning, as well as in August 2023 – when they also recovered three to four tonnes of scrap, 100 waste bags, about 100 shopping carts, refrigerator and traffic.
Owen Derbishir, maintain Wales CEO Tidi, said: “This is a huge challenge, but we know that the health of our rivers is massively important not only at the level of community but also at the national level.
“At the moment they are difficult, there is not so much money in public finances, but it is more important than ever that we take on individual responsibility.”
He added that the shopping carts are not accidentally in the river and “have to call it.”
“We need to do everything we can as a nation to reduce the amount of waste and this type of behavior in the long run,” he said.
Susan and Gervin Chilkot from BRIGANT are voluntary in cleaning [BBC]
Gervin Chilkot of Britgue voluntarily deals with cleaning and said the mess was “disgusting”.
“To think that all this mess that has been thrown over the years is disgusting, but it’s good that it is now being cleaned for the environment.
“This is toxic at the end of the day and all tire chemicals enter the water.”
Sandra Ricardo of Cardiff Rivers Group said it was not clear how tires ended up in the river.
Mrs. Ricardo said a theory is that the tires were used to “strengthen” the Bank River edges decades ago, but they are also afraid that many of them could be rotated over the years.
“Why do people do this? You can take your trash to the advice of advice.
“Raising a fly is a big problem, especially in cardif. You see mattresses, discarded and refrigerated freezers, this is a real problem.”
Andrew Street is from the Ogor Fishing Association and says “tires are toxic junk in the river” [BBC]
Environmental campaigns have said that toxic garbage can erase the wildlife of the river.
Andrew Street, of the Ogor Fishing Association, said he had observed the levels of fish in the river over the years,
“This has a huge impact on the fish population. These tires release chemicals that will affect the invertebrate animals and, if killed, it will affect the fish and especially the salmon and the rail that appear on this river.
“These toxic waste will simply make it even worse.”
Anghad Brown, president of the Women’s Institute of Morthyr Mawr, coordinates volunteers in the cleaning operation.
“It is important for us to participate in such a useful project of the community, which fits into our own campaign for more clean rivers and waterways in Wales,” she said.