Welsh manager anti-litter director

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33447, 31 January 1974, Page 18

Welsh manager anti-litter director

“Christchurch is one of the cleanest cities I have ever seen,” said Mr Raymond Jones, the manager of the Welsh team at the Games, yesterday. Mr Jones, who lives in Cardiff, is director for Wales of the Keep Britain Tidy organisation.

When he had been driven round Christchurch the previous day on a tour which included older parts of the city, he had been most impressed by the beautiful houses and gardens, said Mr Jones. “I envy you,” he said. “Christchurch is truly a garden city. Over-all you don’t seem to have the problems we have in Cardiff. In a way Christchurch reminds me of Amsterdam because of its cleanliness.”

Mr Jones said he was very pleased to find that the welcome kits provided for the Games competitors contained a litter bag.

N.Z. INVITED A “Keep Europe Beautiful” conference, to deal with all aspects of litter and pollution, was being held in London in October. Mr Jones said he had been authorised to invite the Prime Minister (Mr Kirk) to send a New Zealand representative. A similar invitation was being extended to the Australian Government.

"What has been done in Christchurch and throughout New Zealand to cope with the

litter problem can be of enormous benefit to us, and you will be able to learn of what we are doing and going to do to overcome pollution. “The invitation is a very sincere one and I hope that your Government will be able to accept it,” Mr Jones said. PICNIC AREAS His wife had recently made a 10-day tour of the North Island and what impressed her most was the many well laid-out picnic areas on roadsides, all of which had good facilities for the disposal of litter. Lay-bys had been provided on main roads in Wales but now that Britain had joined the E.E.C. the lay-bys frequently were used by what Mr Jones referred to as juggernauts—huge long-distance

trucks—and as a result the bins overflowed with commercial litter, something they were never designed for. Sussex University had a research programme on the causes and control of personal and industrial litter, and also a project to induce in schools a greater awareness of the problem. Mr Jones emphasised the importance of educating the young to think about and overcome the problems associated with litter and all other forms of pollution. Increased emphasis was being placed on school study of the environment. PACKAGING The ever-increasing expansion of the packaging industry did not benefit organisa-

tions campaigning against litter, said Mr Jones. The British packaging industry spent £looom a year, and expenditure in the United States w r as much higher. “You can’t take litter and isolate it from the over-all behaviour pattern of the community,” said Mr Jones. “You don’t find litter in the Christchurch Cathedral or the Town Hall, but go to the Queen Elizabeth II Park stadium and iyou find the indiscriminate scattering of litter by patrons. We believe the surroundings influence the litter behaviour of people. “Every community must be on guard against the evils of litter and pollution if its citizens are to enjoy to the full the benefits and beauty of their environment,” said Mr Jones.