Volunteers from Keep Abergavenny Tidy returned this week for their monthly group litter pick, amassing their largest haul of discarded rubbish since 2019.

Over 20 volunteers took to the streets last week for an hour or so to clear the north of Abergavenny, including Ysguborwen, Old Barn Way, Hillcrest Road, Underhill Crescent, Rother Avenue, Llwynu Lane and Llwynu Road.

The group were hard at work with their latest haul amounting to 29 bags of general waste, 10 bags of bottles and cans, and a staggering 114 disposable face masks.

Most of the discarded waste is fast food packaging from outlets like McDonalds and local takeaways and supermarkets, plastic drinks bottles, glass beer bottles, and cans of lager and energy drinks.

Polystyrene fast food containers are often discarded with food in them, endangering the health of dogs who eat it, and also attracting rats to residential areas.

Speaking about the increasing amounts of rubbish, a spokesperson for Keep Abergavenny Tidy said: “If things stay as they are in Abergavenny, it’s bad for everyone. For local people, children and pets, visitors to the town and for wildlife and water courses contaminated by this totally avoidable, non-biodegradable waste.

“It doesn’t have to be like this. Keep Abergavenny Tidy gets a lot of support and encouragement from local people, and from local councillors whose patches are litter-picked. There is mounting public support for not just clearing it up, but ‘stopping the drop’ altogether. Doing that would be a win-win for Abergavenny.”

If you want to ‘stop the drop’, message Keep Abergavenny Tidy on Facebook @AberLitter or Instagram @aber_litter or email [email protected]

Keep Abergavenny Tidy’s next town litter pick is the usual first Tuesday of the month, March 1, meeting at 10am inside the Merthyr Road entrance to Abergavenny Community Centre.