ANNOYED residents have joined forces with Penarth Town Council to condemn the spike in littering that seems to have occurred as lockdown has started to ease.
Residents and councillors have reported significant littering at Old Pens fields, Cosmeston and at Penarth Cemetery.
Simon Glover, who has grown so fed up with the problem at Old Pens that he took to social media this week to explain the problem, believes there is a "significant education issue" impacting the town.
"There has been a general litter problem in the town for a while now in open spaces and parks, and Old Pens seems to be the worst for it," he said. "Since lockdown eased more people are using the facilities and there seems to be a significant education issue."
Mr Glover has thanked his neighbours for helping to pick up the litter over the last few weeks, and has been out with his son George three times during lockdown to do a big "pick-up".
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"It doesn’t seem right to me that George and I have cleaned the fields three times during lockdown but we are willing to do it to keep it tidy," he added.
Earlier this week visitors to Penarth Cemetery were reminded to take their rubbish home with them or use the bins on site.
The town council said that if the rubbish continues to be dumped, they will need to return the cemetery to reduced opening hours to combat the risk of Covid-19 transmission.
A spokesman for Penarth Town Council said: "As part of the measures undertaken to enable the reopening of the cemetery and in common with similar facilities, we have encouraged visitors to take refuse away with them.
"This maximises hygiene and reduces the risk of cross contamination. Bins are nonetheless available at the site entrance.
"Since reopening, we have regularly encountered refuse being left on site. To ensure the hygiene of the site for visitors and staff, we reiterate the policy which helps to allow full hours of access."
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