Skip to content

World record for volunteer river clean-up smashed

Ben Price
BBC News
BBC About a hundred figures in high-vis yellow vests. They are litterpicking and carrying red bags. They are along the edge of the River Taff. BBC
Thousands of volunteers took to the river to clean the rubbish up

The world record for a volunteer river clean-up has been smashed by 998 with 1,327 people taking part.

The previous record stood at 329 people and was set on the River Ganges, in India, in February.

Friday's attempt happened on the River Taff between its source in the Bannau Brycheiniog national park, also known as the Brecon Beacons, and Cardiff Bay.

Kate Strong, who organised the Taff Tidy project, said she believed the "best way" to raise awareness of "the importance of looking after our health and the natural world" was to motivate with a world record.

A woman wearing an orange beanie hat, orange gilet and a navy top. She's standing on a footpath along the river Taff.
Ex-triathlon champion, Kate Strong, came up with the idea of a river clean world record

Ms Strong, who is an ex-triathlon champion and holds multiple world cycling records on a static bike, said before the attempt: "I think we don't talk enough about what we can do every single day to help our rivers.

"Yes, we are organising a world record clean up event by picking up our rubbish but the food we eat at home directly affects our rivers systems, what we flush down our toilets directly affects our river systems.

"So I think we really need to look after our fresh water system that supports life."

School children, community groups and others collected litter at multiple locations for 30 minutes from 12:00 GMT.

The Power family smile at the camera. A mum stands behind the railings, she is wearing a blue jumper, high vis yellow jacket, three children (two boys and a little girl) stand between her and her partner. All are wearing blue jumpers and high vis yellow vests. The Norweigan church in Cardiff is visible behind them.
The Power family who have travelled from Guildford in Surrey to take part in the river clean world record attempt

A Guinness World Records adjudicator assessed the evidence gathered from eight locations before a result was declared shortly afterwards.

Ms Strong said five volunteers were at each spot on behalf of Guinness "and they observed the whole infrastructure and recorded the entire clean up for that day".

Eight schoolchildren pictured holding litter pickers and rubbish bags smile towards the camera. They are stood grouped together on the side of a road, many of them wear yellow high-vis vests. Two teachers can be seen stood smiling behind them. A residential estate can be seen in the background in front of some tree covered mountains.
School children in Merthyr Tydfil also took part in cleaning up the Taff on Friday

Among those who took part in the clean up was Dr Numair Masud, a freshwater ecologist from Cardiff University.

After the event he will then test the samples, identifying how much the clean up will have benefited the water quality in the river.

"It is worth remembering that the River Taff was considered ecologically dead once upon a time.

"So it really is a reminder that things can improve because of human initiative," said Dr Masud.

"Analysing waste along the River Taff along those eight key locations will be incredibly important because not only is it going to be the largest ever river clean-up, it may potentially be the largest ever individual points survey for plastic pollutants, for example.

"And as someone who is working on plastic pollution that is incredibly important," he added.

A picture of a small pile of red and clear bin bags filled with waste. They are gathered together on the sand in Cardiff Bay. Five men stand behind the bin bags wearing high vis vests in fluorescent- yellow and pink. Trees can be seen in the distance.
The event also hopes to assess how human behaviour leads to littering

Dr Masud said the event would also be used to survey local people about human behaviour which leads to littering.

"If we are serious about making a difference to our rivers and the natural world as a whole we need to be patient," he said.

"We need to think about long term-ism rather than short term-ism.

"Human beings as a species we like quick fixes, and the Taff Tidy is a single moment in time.

"But what it's trying to create, or what Kate and I are trying to create, is a legacy to remind people that we need to be in this together for the long haul. Otherwise, it's not going to work."

Two volunteers picking up litter on the bank of the River Taff. A red bag lies at their feet. One volunteer is wearing blue skinny jeans, an orange jacket and a yellow high-vis jacket. Another volunteer stands slightly behind him, she is wearing a black jumper and trousers, a yellow high-vis jacket and she has curly brown hair. Trees are visible in the background.
Hundreds of volunteers took part in the clean up

Louise Tambini from the charity Keep Wales Tidy says the Taff was particularly vulnerable to the effects of litter, and Cardiff "gets the brunt of that".

"You've got lots and lots of rivers feeding into the Taff, so in a flood event, and we have lots and lots of flood events, you get tonnes and tonnes of waste coming down the river.

"If you walk anywhere down the bottom of the Taff you'll see very high strand lines of all the plastics."

Litter stuck in tree in river
This section of the River Taff shows debris caught in trees

Gail Davies-Walsh from Afonydd Cymru said improvement in water quality had slowed down.

"In the 1970s, the River Taff catchment was one of the most grossly polluted rivers in Wales, a consequence of the industrial heritage of the south Wales valleys.

"Significant water quality and ecological improvement resulted in this catchment, but in recent time that improvement has most certainly slowed."

She added reports from environmental regulator Natural Resources Wales (NRW) showed no improvement in three years and emerging concerns from chemicals and ammonia that impacts fish.

A stretch of the river Taff which passes the Principality Stadium to the left and terraced houses along the embankment to the right.
The River Taff stretches approximately 40 miles from near Brecon to Cardiff Bay

NRW insisted the water quality of Welsh rivers "remains firmly at the top of our agenda."

Rhian Thomas, NRW's sustainable water manager, said it was "driving improvements through robust water regulation and pollution incident response."

"The Welsh government's new law banning the supply of certain single-use plastic products will help to reduce the flow of plastic pollution into our environment.

"There is no simple solution to this societal challenge. River clean-ups are also an important part of the solution, and we support the great work of the many volunteers that help.

"We need a collaborative solution, with a mixture of better regulation, enforcement and education - not something any one organisation can do alone."