The Results – Winter Rubbish Walk, Paddle and Swim

This brave Santa collected rubbish from Llyn Padarn at the recent ‘Winter Rubbish Walk, Paddle and Swim’ held in partnership with the ‘Loving our Lake’ project, the North Wales Environmental Charter Group, Surf-Lines, Keep Wales Tidy, Barefoot Wine UK and Gwynedd Council.

The team at ‘Loving our Lake’, who organised the tidy-up, were surprised at how much litter they recovered. “It has been a very busy summer at Llyn Padarn. At our last litter pick in May, we removed lots of lost wellies, but we picked up 20 single wellies this time too. Our lovely volunteers were brilliant; they swam, paddled and walked around the lake collecting rubbish,” says Emma Edwards-Jones, project manager for the ‘Loving our Lake’ project.

The litter pick collected 24 bin bags of general rubbish, 3.5 bags of plastic bottles, 20 wellies, 3 shoes, rope and chicken wire. A bag of cans, a bag of glass bottles and a traffic cone went to be recycled. A box of bullets was recovered from the lake and handed in to the local police station.

The swimmers appreciated a hot shower at Surf-Lines, which was hosting the event, and a glass of wine provided by Barefoot Wine UK.

“Most lake users take their waste home, but a surprising amount of rubbish builds up in a relatively short amount of time. If we didn’t remove it, much of this rubbish would remain in the lake for many years to come, presenting a hazard for people and wildlife” says Emma.

The ‘Loving our Lake’ project has been developed and is delivered by Snowdonia-Active, a social enterprise based in Caban, Brynrefail. It is supported by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water and has the backing of Natural Resources Wales. ‘Loving our Lake’ asks residents and businesses in the Llanberis valley to switch to an environmentally friendly dishwasher product and look after their septic tanks.

More information is available online at facebook.com/llynpadarn and www.loving-our-lake.org.

“We are hoping to organise another litter pick in the Spring and ask residents to find out more about protecting Llyn Padarn and the ‘Loving our Lake’ project,” says Emma.