Pupils, parents and other volunteers from the community were involved in the design of the garden, which will now enhance the local environment. The garden will make a lasting improvement to the local environment by supporting activities that create and sustain a collaborative commitment to caring for the environment.

Various workshops were held during the week which saw the children make their own willow arbour, create wildlife homes and build an eco-greenhouse out of plastic bottles. The children also planted sunflowers so that the seeds can be used to feed the wildlife during the winter months.

The Community Garden, which is the second phase of the school’s Tidy Towns initiative was brought to light when the school and the community it serves adopted a neglected allotment area adjacent to the school grounds. The project has developed a community garden, which includes an orchard, fruit bushes, vegetable patch, quiet seated area, a small pond, recycled greenhouse, willow arbour and a polytunnel.

The first phase of the project involved litter picking the public footpath, developing a log circle in the woodlands and a commitment from the school to maintain this area.

Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, Councillor Eudine Hanagan, said: “The project has been an extremely successful vehicle for strengthening partnership and collaborative working with the school, RCT Environmental Services Street Care Team, Brynna Allotment Society, the Youth Club and the community. It is hoped that the garden will be fully used by the community.”

The Council has a statutory duty to monitor air quality in its area and periodically report on it to the community and statutory bodies.

The duty applies to seven pollutants found in outdoor air:

• Carbon Monoxide

• Benzene

• 1,3 Butadiene

• Lead

• Nitrogen Dioxide

• Sulphur Dioxide

• Fine Particles – PM10

In 2007 the Council completed the 3rd Stage Detailed Assessment for Nitrogen Dioxide which identified eight areas, within the county borough which were breaching the annual mean (long-term) AQO for Nitrogen Dioxide.

In accordance with its statutory duty the Council declared the following Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA):-

• Aberdare Town Centre

• Broadway, Treforest

• Cilfynydd, Pontypridd

• Mwyndy – A4119, Llantrisant

• Nantgarw

• Pontypridd Town Centre

• Tonteg – Church Village – Llantwit Fardre A473 Corridor

• East Road, Tylorstown

Following the declaration of an AQMA the Council is under a statutory duty to undertake a 4th Stage Further Assessment of Nitrogen Dioxide.

The remit of a Further Assessment is to confirm previous findings and examine in more depth the nature and degree of the breach of the AQO.

In accordance with the statutory timeframe the Council completed the 4th Stage Further Assessment of Nitrogen Dioxide in April 2009.

The findings of the Further Assessment were that:

• All areas which have been declared AQMA continue to be in breach of the annual mean AQO and the AQMA should remain.

• The Pontypridd Town Centre AQMA requires enlargement to take account of a larger area affected by a breach of the annual mean AQO for Nitrogen Dioxide.

• The Tonteg – Church Village – Llantwit Fardre A473 Corridor requires modification to take account of a breach of the 1 hour (short term) AQO for Nitrogen Dioxide.

• The following new areas are in breach of the annual mean AQO for Nitrogen Dioxide and require the declaration of Air Quality Management Areas: -

1. Mountain Ash Town Centre

2. Cymmer

3. Ferndale

4. Llwynypia

5. Nightingales Bush, Pontypridd

• Significant amounts of local road traffic often along congested narrow streets is the main causative factor at most locations. This situation is common to other similar areas of the country.

• Monitoring and analysis should be maintained to allow further understanding of local Air Quality and the impact of improvement measures.

The Council has commenced a three-month public consultation in regards to the findings of the 4th Stage Further Assessment of Nitrogen Dioxide which will be completed by August 18th 2009.

The Council will also commence production of individual Air Quality Action Plans for each of the AQMA. These Action Plans will examine all options for improving air quality within their areas and endorse cost effective solutions which the Council and its partners can implement.

The formulation of the Air Quality Action Plans will be undertaken by an Air Quality Action Planning Steering Group, led by Public Health and Protection and involving all relevant departments and stakeholders. The Steering Group will meet regularly to inform the development of the Action Plans and report on progress.

The 4th Stage Further Assessment of Nitrogen Dioxide can be viewed on the Council website at the Pollution Control – Air webpage or at Ty Elai, Dinas Isaf East, Williamstown, Tonypandy.

Any comments in regards to the public consultation should be made in writing to:-

Pollution Control

Public Health & Protection

Ty Elai

Dinas Isaf East

Williamstown

Tonypandy CF40 1NY

Tel : 01443 425777

So far over 9,600 residents across Rhondda Cynon Taf have been invited to take up the new scheme that aims to rapidly reduce the amount of household waste sent to landfill. At present all households that use the Council’s weekly kerbside recycling scheme are being approached to use the Food Recycling Initiative as well.

Members of the Council’s Streetcare Team are visiting homes and encouraging them to support this easy and clean method of recycling food waste. They have already spoken to residents in Tonyrefail, Penrhiwfer and Gilfach Goch with Coedely next on their list of communities to visit.

At present 55% of households in Rhondda Cynon Taf recycle, but thousands are still not getting involved even though there are so many schemes on offer, from the kerbside weekly collection service, easy-to-access community recycling centres, free collection of larger items and now the food waste recycling scheme.

Members of the Council’s Streetcare Team are visiting homes and encouraging them to support this easy and clean method of recycling food waste. They have already spoken to residents in Tonyrefail, with Penrhiwfer with Gilfach Goch next on their list of communities to visit.

At present 55% of households in Rhondda Cynon Taf recycle, but thousands are still not getting involved even though there are so many schemes on offer, from the kerbside weekly collection service, easy-to-access community recycling centres, free collection of larger items and now the food waste recycling scheme.

Every week residents recycle around 35% of waste, which is four times the amount recycled a few years ago, but this needs to reach 40% by 2010 or the Council will face stringent fines of up to £200 per tonne by the Welsh Assembly Government. Food waste forms 30% of the average Rhondda Cynon Taf refuse bin contents.

For more information on recycling, send an email to recycling@rhondda-cynon-taf.gov.uk or call 01443 494700.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s recycling champion mascot had a very warm welcome from all the children who have plenty of “green schemes” ongoing in the school to keep them occupied with environmental issues.

It was just one of many visits Rhys makes every week to primary, infant schools and nurseries as well as regular guest appearances in various functions from fun days to rugby matches.

Joined by members of the Council’s Streetcare Awareness Team, Rhys makes sure every child he meets realizes how important it is to recycle and encourage more people to get involved.

Through his award-winning website The World of Rhys Cycle, which can be found at www.rhyscycle.co.uk he has a global following with thousands of members on every continent.

The Birdwatch is the world’s biggest bird survey and bird lovers of all ages are being invited to join in the celebrations at Barry Sidings Countryside Park, Trehafod, near Pontypridd, on Saturday, January 24, 2009.

Meet at the Countryside Park’s visitor centre at 10am, where you can make a bird feeder for your feathered friends. The event is free. For more information, contact Stacey Humber, Rhondda Cynon Taf Countryside Project officer, on 01443 490250

In the late 1970s, the RSPB asked its junior membership to count the birds in their garden – over the same weekend. This ‘one-off’ idea was so successful, it has grown into the world’s biggest survey of its kind – the Big Garden Birdwatch.

For the past 30 years, the RSPB has asked people in the UK to look out for the birds in their garden for an hour and record the maximum number of each species seen at one time. This year, the RSPB is asking people to take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch over the weekend of January 24 and 25. For more information, go to www.rspb.org.uk

The collection on Wednesday December 31st will remain the same. However, the New Year’s Day collection will take place on Friday January 2nd.

The Friday January 2nd collection will take place on Saturday January 3rd.

RCT Residents are also being reminded to recycle as much household waster as possible. During the festive period items such as Christmas cards, wrapping paper, Christmas trees, decorations, and batteries can all be recycled at either the kerbside recycling collection. Polysterene can be recycled at one of the council’s Community Recycling Centre.

He was seen to flick the cigarette butt out of his van window, landing himself a £75 fixed penalty notice for littering.

However, when he failed to pay that fine, the matter was taken to court, leading to his financial penalty being increased to £270.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council enforcement officers were on duty when Mr.Howard was seen to throw the butt from his Astra van window on the A4059 near Abercynon.

A trace on the number plate revealed the vehicle was registered to his works, which, in turn, provided the name and address of the driver who was in the van that day.

This lead to paperwork and the fixed penalty notice being sent to Mr Howard’s home address of Eden Thorpe, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, under the Environmental Protection Act

The fine was not paid and the matter was heard at Merthyr Magistrates’ Court on November 10, where Mr Howard was found guilty of the offence in his absence and fined £175, as well as being ordered to pay £80 costs and a victim surcharge of £15.

The court gave him 28 days to pay.

A Participants Day has been held to brief companies interested in tendering for the joint project between Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Councils.

The project, named Tomorrow’s Valley/Cwm Yfory, will find the most attractive and affordable solution to manage waste in a sustainable manner. It will involve the creation of a new unit to treat food waste and the remaining waste left after recycling with Bryn Pica earmarked as a potential location for this project.

This will greatly reduce the amount of waste landfilled by both authorities and once again illustrates a firm commitment to increase the quantity of recycling and to improve the environment for the benefit of all its residents and visitors.

Without such schemes, local authorities may fail to reach stringent Welsh Assembly Government targets to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. Failure to meet these targets will result in massive monetary fines emanating from Europe

Six shortlisted companies were invited to the Participants Day in Cyfarthfa Castle, Merthyr Tydfil and representatives from Biffa, Biogen/Greenfinch, Bioganix, Shanks, TEG and Waste Recycling Group and were given clarification of the procurement process currently ongoing.

The event was introduced by Keith Griffiths, the Chief Executive of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council who explained: “The fundamental aim is to move both our councils further down the road to identifying the partners and best solution for the treatment of our residual and food waste.

“I think I should highlight that this is the biggest contract our two councils have entered into, and we are expecting a high quality, imaginative response.”

Grandmother Janet Jones from Graigwen is a keen recycler of household waste and news that Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s innovative new food waste collection service was coming to her community really brightened her day.

Janet, who is the Vice President of Pontypridd’s Women’s Institute, has made it one of life’s ambitions to encourage more people to recycle their household rubbish and she thinks the food waste recycling service is a major step forward in reducing the quantity of rubbish sent to landfill.

In December she will lead a Plastic Bag Free Day in Pontypridd town centre where she will encourage all shop owners to refuse their customers from using carrier bags for their shopping.

“This is a very important subject and I can’t understand why even more residents of Rhondda Cynon Taf are not recycling their rubbish – it’s such a simple and effective thing to do,” she explained.

“The food waste caddies are excellent. The lid closes tightly so there’s no chance of any nasty smells and you an just put it out with the rest of your weekly kerbside recycling bags.”

Residents of all ages in Rhondda Cynon Taf are continuing the war against waste but the need is greater than ever to reduce the amount sent to landfill or local authorities will face massive monetary fines from the government.

The Community Recycling Centre on Cemetery Road has inadequate room and it is not possible to expand the area for the use of members of the public. A decision has been made to close the site on January 4th 2009.

With a significant lack of room it is becoming increasingly impossible to recycle goods in a similar manner to the new or upgraded sites throughout the county borough.

Recycling is a major priority for the local authority and the expansion of Community Recycling Centres in neighbouring Ferndale and Dinas is testament to this pledge.

Earlier this year the first Community Recycling Centre was opened in the Taff Ely area with the launch of a specially designed site at Treforest Industrial Estate.

Recycling has more than trebled in the last four years, with a massive investment in a new plant, community recycling points, new refuse collections vehicles and innovative ways to promote recycling, including the roll out of kerbside and food waste recycling.

The Community Recycling Centres are an integral part of the ongoing success story as they offer residents the opportunity to recycle a massive variety of items, some of which cannot be collected as part of the kerbside recycling service.

But due to this growing success it means that centres must also be able to cope with the quantity and range of items recycled, which Treorchy is unable to achieve.

Between April 1st 2006 and March 31st 2007 the Council recycled 33,238 tonnes of material compared to just 4,200 tonnes in 1999/2000. This year alone this figure has risen to 30%. We now recycle almost eight times the amount of waste we recycled seven years ago.

Every week 55% of residents take part in the kerbside recycling initiative and many more use the scheme at least once every month. Countless others use the recycling banks – or SORT centres – that are distributed throughout the county borough.

The Council’s Service Director for Streetcare Nigel Wheeler explained: “I can assure residents that the decision to close the Community Recycling Centre in Treorchy was not taken lightly.

“Unfortunately the site in Treorchy is now deemed inadequate to the growing demands of the public to recycle more household waste and reduce the quantity of materials sent to landfill. The success story of recycling in the county borough has meant that we have expanded and improved many of our Community Recycling Centres.

“It has also resulted in the opening of a new facility at Treforest. Unfortunately, Treorchy is unable to expand and develop due to the confined space and regrettably we can no longer provide a first-class service from this site.”

How to co-ordinate what could go to the Charity Shop, the Homelesses group, etc., is probably one stress too many?

Too Good to Waste – your local furniture recycling charity – now offer a new ‘ethical’ house clearance service will aim to re-use / recycle as much of the items they collect. Not just for re-sale in their own Charity Shops (providing much needed funds to support our charitable objectives) but also enable them to help other groups/ individuals and charities that use pre-owned items. (for example – bedding to homelessness groups or metal/ paper / glass for recycling or even spectacles to ‘Vision Aid’).

Too Good to Waste want to hear from individuals and organisations who think they may be benefit from this service…….either because their clients need a ‘house-clearance’ service or because they use pre-owned items or materials.

This pilot project has been part funded by Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council until March 2009. Please contact Lynda Davies on 01443 733600 or email: lynda@toogoodtowaste.co.uk

The attractive traffic-free route near the entrance to Lakeside Farm Restaurant on the A4093 forms part of a trail stretching across the breadth of Wales.

The five-mile section follows the former railway line and parish road, and prevents walkers and cyclists having to drop onto the busy A4093 to continue along the Celtic Trail.

Carwyn Jones said: “The Welsh Assembly Government is committed to getting more people to cycle – as a form of transport; as a means of becoming more physically active; and as a way of getting out and enjoying our countryside. The multi-million pound initiative completes and upgrades sections of the Celtic Trail within eight local authority areas across South and West Wales and will allow cyclists in the Bridgend area to travel in a safe manner.”

The scheme is part of the Celtic Trail Phase 2 Project funded through the Welsh European Funding Office.

Full story available on the BBC News website

At an Energy Summit this week the First Minister said that since he last met delegates at the annual summit, the pace of change in the energy sector has continued to accelerate at European, UK and Wales levels culminating last week with the publication of the Wales Renewable Energy Route Map, the first to be published by a UK administration. Mr Morgan said:

The energy world has been a tremendously busy one, both at project and policy level, since we last met a year ago.

The key to our aims is to maximise Wales’ contribution to the abatement of global warming, not to produce a set of strategies that make the Welsh figures look good.

I am pleased to say that in Wales we have been equally busy meeting the tasks of securing our energy needs for the future.

It represents another big step by our small country on the path to making Wales a low carbon energy economy.

Expanding the production and use of low carbon and secure energy is one of the Assembly Government’s key One Wales commitments.

The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Jane Davidson, told the Summit that the Assembly Government was unique in Europe in having a legal duty to promote sustainable development:

Tackling climate change is my top priority and I believe the Route Map, which I launched in Cwmbran and London last week, is one of the ways that we can achieve this.

Climate change is with us. We have to deal with it but we cannot tackle it alone. Everybody in Wales needs to be taking part in the consultation around the Route Map as this will inform our Energy Strategy which we will be publishing before the end of the year.

I was pleased with the warm welcome that the Route Map received and it is good to meet people at summits like this to exchange views with all the stakeholders so that we can get the strategy right.

There is no magic bullet for tackling climate change. The Assembly Government is determined to do all that it can to ensure that we:

• All stop wasting energy
• All invest in more energy efficiency in our buildings and processes
• Reduce the carbon intensity of energy generation as quickly as practicable.

Wales is blessed with the kind of natural resources – geography, climate, tides – which can reach 33 terrawatt hours of renewable electricity by 2025 – a level that is equal to electricity demand.

The First Minister outlined to the Summit the major projects that have been developing in the last year including:

• The LNG terminals in Milford Haven nearing completion
• RWE are completing major flue gas desulphurisation installations and boiler upgrades at Aberthaw power station
• Rhyl flats offshore windfarm has started construction – one of the UK’s largest.
• Consent for Welsh Power’s 800 MW gas-fired power station at Uskmouth and Prenergy’s 350 MW biomass at Port Talbot – the latter being the world’s largest biomass-fired electricity power station
• While Tower Colliery close other coal developments are progressing across South Wales and longer term underground coal gasification prospects are being intensively studied at Cardiff University.

Other renewables milestones include the Bluestone biomass project and the announcement of multi-megawatt tidal stream projects off Pembrokeshire and Anglesey.

An announcement is due shortly of the outcome on the Forestry Commission Wind-farm tendering process.

Pupils from Coed-y-Lan primary school joined a walk to mark the opening of the Craig yr Hesg Local Nature Reserve, Graigwen.

Pupils from Coed-y-Lan primary school joined a walk to mark the opening of the Craig yr Hesg Local Nature Reserve, Graigwen, led by staff from Rhondda Cynon Taf’s Countryside section. Pontypridd AM Jane Davidson and Pontypridd Town councillor, Steve Carter, also joined the event.

After the walk, a presentation was held at Pontypridd YMCA where the children’s poetry and paintings about their local environment – inspired by a day at the reserve – went on show.

Robert James, Headteacher at Coed-y-lan Primary, said: “The children are learning to appreciate what they have seen and will look after this wonderful landscape.”

Cllr Carter said: “It’s important for people’s health and well-being to get outside, and the nature reserve is there for all the community to enjoy.”

The nature reserve, which is largely woodland, has improved paths, signage and information boards and an ‘outdoor classroom’ area. Countryside staff have worked with local residents on the project.

Craig yr Hesg Local Nature Reserve can be reached via a public footpath near Coedylan Primary School, Pantygraigwen, or via a footpath off Berw Road, Pontypridd.

YouTube Linkvideo link

This will be designed to help member organisations achieve the investment necessary for them to be sustainable long-term social enterprises. Cylch has been working with the Assembly to secure this fund for the sector and are delighted with the outcome.

The fund will be used to provide suitable investment that will help the sector in Wales deliver waste minimisation, reuse, recycling and composting activities. In order to avoid any conflicts of interest the Cylch Capacity Building Fund will be administered independently of Cylch, following selection of a contractor by the end of March.

Nestling in the shadow of Conwy’s town walls, an unloved patch of scrubland contains the last remnants of a centuries-old orchard containing rare varieties of apples, pears and the unusual Denbigh plum.

But a campaign has now begun to restore the untended site, crammed with the finest Welsh fruits of yesteryear, to its former glory.

Mark Watson-Jones, organiser of the Conwy Community Orchard Group, said the trees still bear fruit every summer and autumn although many decades have passed since the trees received any tender loving care. Most of the fruit now goes to waste because the site is so overgrown.

Fulls story on the Icwales website here

There were some green measures in Chancellor Alistair Darling’s red box. But these offerings are only small steps in the right direction.

There was £26 million promised to make homes greener. But… this is only about £1 for every dwelling in the UK. For a potential catastrophe that could cost 20% of global GDP every year, according to the Stern Review, this is negligible.

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