A council’s appeal for residents to help sweep the streets of dead leaves has drawn strong opinion.
Cardiff City Council is promoting its ‘Big Sweep’ scheme as autumn brings fresh leaf fall to streets and pavements.
Many in the Welsh capital hit back at the time of the campaign, a week after garden waste collection was reduced to once a month before being suspended for the winter in December.
Others, however, said volunteering helps make communities cleaner — and closer.
The local authority said street cleaning teams have a set routine for each part of the city but cannot “be everywhere at once”.
They also can’t move parked cars, so they provide sacks to willing residents to sweep up leaves on their own street.
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But the initiative, now in its seventh year, has received mixed reviews, with many calling it a “joke”.
One resident said on social media: “We pay council taxes on this and you want us to do it ourselves.”
Another added: “Do you provide bags and will you collect them? Sorry you provided trash cans and are supposed to collect them!”
A Facebook user responded to the call: “If you can provide and collect full bags, why can’t you keep collecting green bins?” Just do your job that we pay for! Cardiff as a city is getting dirtier and dirtier.”
However, many residents have happily accepted the challenge, such as a group of parents in Llandaff North and Gabalfa known as the YGC Rebel Mams.
They have been holding leaf sweeping days for three years and say their children really enjoy being involved.
Organizer Pam French said: “It’s a beautiful thing to do as a community and seems to be the highlight of our eight-year-old’s year.”
Ms French added: “I get everyone to complain and it shouldn’t be up to individuals but the kids love it. As soon as the leaves turn brown, they ask when the big sweep is.
“She [children] don’t think about if someone else should do it. They see a problem on their street and think there is something they can do about it. It’s actually very empowering.
“It’s quite hard work, but very rewarding.”
Another resident said on social media: “It’s called being ‘proud of your neighborhood,’ like sweeping and washing the sidewalks outside your house like your great-grandmothers used to do, instead of sitting back and saying, ‘This isn’t my job’.”
Cardiff City Council said the scheme was community-led and has proved “hugely popular” with hundreds of residents.
A spokesman said: “The idea of the Big Sweep is not for the public to carry out work that the council will do, but to reach out to community groups and individuals who are established across the city and volunteer to help.
“The sweeps create goodwill and mutual respect between residents and city officials.
“The broader Love Where You Live campaign is designed to bring communities together so residents can be proud of the communities they live in, while accepting that some people will always have negative attitudes towards such voluntary community programs.”
The council added that roadside green bin collection will be suspended for December, January and February after research found garden waste fell by 80% in winter.
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