Newport litter and fly-tipping better says Pride in Pill founder

They cleared more than 100 needles and 80 bags of rubbish from the alleyways behind Clarence Place, next to the railway line.

Before and after photos showed a stunning transformation in an area that Pride in Pill founder Paul Murphy admitted had been "getting bad" for some time.

But even though the group still has plenty of requests and hotspots to clean up, Mr Murphy told the Argus he believes the situation in Newport has been improving gradually since he first started litter-busting in May 2014.

"There are a lot of problems with rubbish, but we can see it's getting better across the board," he said. "In the first five years we were [working] in Pillgwenlly only, and if you go back to 2019 we had 35 events there alone.

"But between January this year and now, we've only had to do two events in Pillgwenlly.

"It's getting better."

The situation behind Clarence Place before the Pride in Pill litter pick. Picture: Pride in Pill

Mr Murphy said he thinks this is because people are "respecting" their neighbourhoods and city, and Pride in Pill is now focusing on "back lanes" and "hiding points" for fly-tipping, like the lanes on the northern side of Clarence Place last week.

Syringes are unfortunately a regular issue - the group has to carry out health and safety visits before beginning each little pick, and many of the regular volunteers have been sharps-trained to handle needles safely.

And the view after Pride in Pill's volunteers finished their litter pick near Clarence Place. Picture: Pride in Pill

Last year alone, Pride in Pill collected 6,000 syringes around the city, and sent them to be destroyed securely.

On top of that, the group collects thousands of rubbish bags worth of litter and fly-tipping, usually working with the council to arrange its collection and disposal. During the Clarence Place littler pick last week, Network Rail arranged for the 80 bags of waste to be picked up.

Pride in Pill's voluntary work hasn't gone unnoticed - in 2017 the group was presented with the Queen's Award for its services to the community, which also include a regular meals service for the city's homeless, backed by local restaurants and other businesses.

"We've got everybody's support," Mr Murphy said. "But what we could do with - if people want to support us - is for them to come and help us."

And the group's founder is optimistic the situation is getting better in Newport. Volunteers regularly go back and check hotspots they've cleared, to make sure the litter problems haven't returned.

"People may not see it, but because we've been doing it over time, we can see it getting better," Mr Murphy said.