Blanket is delighted to announce that our 'Get It Out for Bangor' campaign mounted to minimise end-of-University term litter problems in the City, has been a huge success!

Our clients Bangor Pride has declared this biggest ever assault on end-of-term student litter problems a success, following the release of official statistics for the inaugural ‘Get it Out for Bangor’ campaign as also published in the Bangor and Anglesey Mail.

The campaign’s aim, to prevent the annual problem of rubbish spilling out onto streets has inspired one city councillor to remark, “It's certainly the cleanest I've ever seen Bangor at the end of an academic year.”

Mounted by a partnership which included Bangor University, Bangor Students Union, Gwynedd Council and Fly-Tipping Action Wales council figures show that over 17 tonnes of rubbish was collected from student areas of the City over the two-weeks of the campaign. 

A three-month awareness campaign was mounted on campus to encourage students to observe specially designated extra waste collection days when clearing out of their properties.

Led by Students Union President John Jackson and Deputy President Spencer George, SU Sabbatical Officers starred on posters, flyers and online, dressed as Martial Arts heroes in this year’s campaign theme of ‘Give Rubbish the Chop’ ‘Sbydwch y Sbwriel’. 

To help spread the word, Gwynedd Council’s Tidy Towns Officer, Street Enforcement Wardens and Police Community Support Officers joined the University and SU team on the environmental campaign trail.

Launched with a kung-fu style student litter pick in Hirael, designated extra collections took place over the two weekends of 28th May – 7th June.

Councillor June Marshall on behalf of Arfona Davies of the Upper Bangor Society, was one of the first to comment on the campaign results, the Councillor said:

“I am very pleased to say that the Upper Bangor Society was extremely happy with the work which has been carried out. The rubbish collection was far better this year than in previous years. The Council collection vehicle regularly took away many full black bags which may otherwise have been left on the street for seagulls to open and scatter. Let us hope that this initiative continues each year from now on”.

Councillor Dewi Llewelyn said: “It's certainly the cleanest I've ever seen Bangor at the end of an academic year. A co-ordinated effort between the Bangor Students initiative “Get it out for Bangor” and Gwynedd Council has worked extremely well.

Bangor students have cooperated and have left their rubbish out on the collection days to be swiftly collected by Council workmen. Gwynedd Street Enforcement Officers have also been seen patrolling the City ensuring that rubbish left at the road side at other times was quickly dealt with.”

John Jackson said: “We feel this is a major turning point for the better in Bangor.  It shows that given the right information and tools, the student body will get out there and take active responsibility for keeping our streets clean and tidy.  I am proud of the hard work that all in the Union and University have put in to make Get it Out for Bangor an historic success.  We hope this initiative will continue to grow in future.”

Peter Simpson, Streetscene Manager at Gwynedd Council said: 

“Overall, the student’s end of term campaign was very successful, bearing in mind that it is the first time that such an ambitious project has been attempted in Bangor. By collecting 17.1 tonnes of waste over two weekends a significant threat to the cleanliness of city streets has been safely averted, representing another major step forward for Bangor Pride.”

Gwenan Hine, Assistant Registrar at Bangor University, who leads the Bangor Pride University Group, said: “It is crucial that we do not simply rest on our laurels as we must maintain the momentum of this success by doing all we can to establish Get it Out for Bangor as a key part of University life.“

John Wynn Jones, Chair of Bangor Pride said: “On behalf of Balchder Bangor I can only compliment all that have been involved and it again demonstrates that if we all pull together the outcome is much better making everybody's life in Bangor a lot more pleasant. The challenge is to sustain this effort such that this standard becomes the norm for years to come.”

Get it Out for Bangor was supported by a Welsh Assembly Government Local Environmental Quality Improvement Grant and by Fly-tipping Action Wales.

Click here to see the website we created for our campaign.