This is an article written to the cretins who left the charred remains of their family-sized barbecue on the clifftop above one of the best places to watch the sun go down in Wales. You obviously knew that, on the grassy spot above Traeth Llyfn, you'd be treated to sweeping views over the dramatic landscape as the sun setting in the west turned the sea and sand a soft golden colour.
You knew that, sitting directly on the internationally-renowned Pembrokeshire Coast Path, it was a view that many others would enjoy the next day as the whole country basked in the hottest temperatures of the year so far on Sunday. You'd come prepared with that barbecue, a selection of cheese slices, some supermarket pasta salad, Freddo chocolates, all to be washed down with beer in glass bottles and cans of cider.
You'd even brought some canvas chairs with metal frames especially for the occasion and a bright red canvas lightweight tent. You didn't have far to walk back to the car park at Abereiddy – maybe 10 minutes at most.
Read more: Wales records highest-ever temperature as extreme heat hits UK
Why, then, did you just leave all your rubbish on the grass after you'd finished having a good time for it to be blown into the bracken along the clifftop? Your bottles and cans were strewn among the undergrowth and your plastic wrappers littered the grass and undergrowth, the harsh purple plastic obvious against the sun-bleached grass. Did you really think those chairs – which you dumped on the flimsy disposable barbecue – would really burn? Did you not take a look back at your picnic spot as you left and feel even a pang of guilt as you witnessed your wanton desecration of this pristine beautiful spot?
Did you not feel even a twinge of responsibility that this was your mess and therefore yours to clean up? Do you care so little for our environment that you think you're too good to clear up your own rubbish?
Well the good news is I picked it all up. Every last Freddo wrapper and every last plastic wrap that kept your cheese slices individually sealed. I simply couldn't walk past and leave that gruesome scene knowing all that litter would likely end up in the sea and probably into the stomachs of our birds and marine life. I found the canvas bag that had carried your tent to the spot and filled it with the twisted metal legs of your chair and the half-melted canvas. I folded up the metal tray of the barbecue and the fireproof metal grill and stuffed it in the bag, cutting my fingers on the sharp edges in the process. I got down on my hands and knees and found every cider can and beer bottle. I couldn't get down to the tent which you'd let get blown to the bottom of the cliffs. I could see it, the unnatural bright red material wedged in the bracken, but I wasn't prepared to risk my life to clean up your mess.
I walked the few hundred metres to Abereiddy car park with charcoal dust all over my hands. That's when I came across the two plastic sacks half-heartedly filled with yet more rubbish from another picnic. Filled with all manner of rubbish – food packets and bottles and cans mostly. I picked them up too. They were heavy – I had to put them down twice as I crossed the car park, adding in a couple of extra drinks cans for good measure which had been carelessly left blowing in the onshore breeze. I felt so dirty after dumping it all in one of four big bins provided for litter I had to go in the sea just to feel clean again.
It makes me angry, yes, but also incredibly sad. I can't get my head around the thought processes that occur to simply get up and leave your rubbish behind. I don't think I could physically let go of a drinks can in order to discard it somewhere other than a bin. We have some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country and we have a duty to look after them. We're already doing a bad job at that – the recent hot temperatures are widely thought to be a consequence of anthropogenic climate change. On the same day the hillside behind another beautiful Pembrokeshire beach, Newgale, caught fire sending plumes of smoke into the sky. Described by one as "the destruction of our countryside by thoughtless vandals", the potential ignition sources for the Newgale fire are mostly manmade. There was evidence of a barbecue at the scene "very close to the heel of the wildfire", tweeted David Swan.
Just days before the weekend the cliffside at Monkstone Beach, between Tenby and Saundersfoot, also caught fire. Later on back at home I saw on Twitter that what I'd witnessed was not an isolated incident. Someone had taken a similar picture of the remnants of a picnic just discarded under a tree in a Cardiff park.
Conditions are unprecedented – river levels are critically low, temperatures are set to break records this week ( Wales has already had a new hottest temperature twice in a single day at the time of publication), and it's been the driest half-year period in some places since 1996. Surely then this is even more reason to look after our environment and take more care of it that less? The cause of the fire at Newgale is still unconfirmed but a local woman said smouldering barbecues and rubbish left on that bank in Newgale and nearby Nolton and Whitesands was commonplace.
Last year a survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of Keep Britain Tidy showed that overall almost one in five people admit to leaving rubbish behind at the beach with a whopping 42% of 18 to 24-year-olds admitting to leaving litter behind after a visit to the seaside. The research showed that the primary driver leading people to dump their rubbish at the beach was the fact that litter and rubbish was already present. Almost nine out of every 10 instances of littering observed during the research occurred next to bins, particularly when they were full and other people had started placing rubbish around the bin.
A spokesman for Keep Wales Tidy said: “During the summer it is essential that our precious parks, green spaces, and beaches are kept clean and safe for everyone to enjoy. At a time when visitor numbers are extremely high and bins are filling up quickly it is not acceptable to expect somebody else to pick up the rubbish that you create including barbecues, which pose a threat to all visitors, wildlife, and the environment. Please take a rubbish bag with you and take your litter home.”
A spokesman for Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority said: “The Pembrokeshire Coast is a gateway to a range of stunning landscapes, archaeological remains, and home to many animals and plants that have disappeared from other parts of the UK. While protecting these special qualities is one of the key roles of the Park Authority it’s not something we can do alone – and as more people discover this beautiful part of the world a sustainable future depends on all of us working together.
“We are asking all visitors to the Park to tread lightly during their visit and leave a legacy of only footprints. This includes taking care with barbecues and disposing of rubbish in bins – or taking it home when bins are full or not available.” Mid and West Wales fire service has been contacted for comment.
What do you think about people who leave their rubbish in Wales' countryside and parks? Do you think disposable barbecues should be banned? Tell us in the comments section below.
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