ABERYSTWYTH town centre is provided with regular and reliable waste collection services. Unfortunately, some localised, seasonal issues continue to arise. One of the solutions to this is to close the Window of Waste!

The window of waste is the time between when waste is presented for collection and when it is actually collected. The longer the window of waste is open the more issues and problems that occur which includes the waste being ravaged by seagulls, other animals as well as the elements. This causes the problems that are experienced in some town centre locations mostly on and around waste collection days.

The County Council has been very proactive in Aberystwyth over recent years in introducing interventions and changes to waste collection arrangements with a view of addressing or improving long standing issues. These are currently being reviewed and include but are not limited to:

·         Additional early waste collections in the town centre to collect waste that has been presented too early.

·         Provision of wheelie bins on North Parade and heavy duty sacks at various streets to contain waste between the time it is presented and collected

·         Provision of free caddies and caddy liners for food waste and boxes for glass

·         Localised information provision

·         Closer working between Waste Collection and Street Cleaning teams

·         Closer monitoring

·         Ongoing liaison with residents and landlords

As part of Caru Ceredigion and Caru Aber all residents are encouraged to play their part in being part of the solution rather than the cause of the problem. This means working with us to ensure that:

·         Aber’s streets are kept clean and attractive at all times

·         Aber’s waste is dealt with in the most efficient way possible from a cost and environmental perspective

·         Aber remains a fantastic place to live and visit

·         Aber maintains the superb positive profile and image it deserves

We are asking all residents to help us close the window of waste by presenting the Right Waste in the Right Way and on the Right Day:

·         Right Waste: making full and proper use of the services provided for recycling and food waste which are collected every week

·         Right Way: presenting the waste in suitable containers, which includes the food caddies and glass boxes provided by the Council.  A range of bins from wheelie bins to traditional bins are available from local outlets or online to store and present waste.

·         Right Day: waste should only be presented for collection by 08:00 on the day of collection.

Businesses are reminded that they have a legal responsibility to have trade waste arrangements in place for all the waste their business produces

For the size and nature of the town, Aberystwyth is a clean town, which contributes to its overall attractiveness as a fantastic place to live and visit. If this were not the case then so many local people and visitors would not hold it in such high regard.  

For more information regarding Ceredigion County Council’s waste collection services, including a postcode finder, please visit www.ceredigion.gov.uk.

Lidl has been revealed as the cheapest supermarket in May, according to the latest monthly analysis from Which?.

Which? compared prices for a trolley of 20 items every day throughout May and found that on average, shoppers would have paid £22.66 at Lidl, beating the big four and Aldi to the accolade. Products checked included own-label products such as tomatoes and chicken drumsticks and branded goods such as Nescafé coffee, to see how UK supermarkets compared. The announcement recognises Lidl’s continued commitment to offering customers top quality products at great value prices as the retailer expands further into the future. Earlier this year, Which? named Lidl as the Cheapest Supermarket 2020, demonstrating that Lidl continues to offer UK shoppers consistently unbeatable prices.

The news comes as the supermarket expanded its operation in Aberystyth.

This pic of the new store was taken by Rose Voon.

SUPPORTING industry’s recovery from the impact of the pandemic is a key priority for the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD).

The University has a track record for working with industry through knowledge transfer, research innovation, workforce development and by providing a ready pipeline of skilled students and graduates, in partnership with employers.

In addition, UWTSD’s MADE Cymru initiative was established to support manufacturing industries in Wales to adapt to the challenges of Industry 4.0.

The initiative, funded by the EU via the Welsh Government, aims to support the economic recovery of manufacturers in Wales by offering part and fully funded training to businesses to upskill staff, as well as research and development that improves processes and products to reduce waste and costs.

In addition, UWTSD and MADE Cymru have organised an Industry Summit to be held online between June 8-10 to inform, engage and inspire businesses during this critical period of post-Covid recovery.

Expert speakers will be sharing their insights including James Davies from Industry Wales, Carol Hall, Regional Investment Manager, Development Bank of Wales, Chris Probert, Innovation Specialist, Welsh Government and Geraint Jones, Knowledge Transfer Adviser at KTN.

The line-up also includes Welsh manufacturers who will be sharing their own experiences, including Tim Hawkins, Managing Director, Markes International, Julia Chesney-Roberts, Commercial Manager, Riversimple, Angus Grahame, Founder of Splosh and Jacques Bonfrer, Co-Founder and Team Lead, Bot-Hive.

There will be guest talks from circular economy expert Eoin Bailey and lean author Daryl Powell and an opportunity to find out about the range of services offered by the University.

Graham Howe, Executive Head of the MADE Cymru project at UWTSD says: “This Industry Summit aims to explore issues and challenges facing manufacturing in Wales so that we can work together with employers to find solutions. 

“We always start with asking a manufacturer what their biggest problem is today and look at how we can help them with it.

“We aim to unravel potentially confusing challenges like these. Our approach begins by looking at what companies need to increase their productivity and competitiveness.

“We aim to lead the businesses we work with through a journey of continuous improvement – a journey that makes the most of Industry 4.0 technologies and their ever-growing digital capabilities to help solve the specific problems faced by each company.

“All of the feedback we receive from businesses shapes our curriculum – we want to produce employable, digitally literate graduates who can contribute to their workplace from day one”.

Alison Orrells is CEO and Managing Director of Safety Letterbox and has been one of the organisations participating in the MADE Cymru initiative.

She said: “It was important to keep innovating and investing to set us apart and come out stronger. It’s been intense but we had a game plan – now it is all about business future-proofing, being agile, collaborations and being adaptable.”

Covid-19 has affected every part of a business and shifted the focus from production to survival.

UWTSD recently led a round table discussion with Welsh manufacturers about the future of manufacturing in Wales.

That discussion found that their outlook is positive about the future.

Manufacturers accelerated their adoption of new technologies to enhance and optimise production.

With many employees on furlough, managers took the opportunity to rethink and invest in better IT, particularly communications, training and diversified into new product areas. They looked to local colleges and universities to help shift perceptions of jobs in manufacturing and demonstrated the career opportunities and pathways available.

They also loosened their reliance on overseas imports and looked for suppliers in the UK to minimise future risk of disruption.

All sessions of the Industry Summit are free to attend and places can be booked on the UWTSD website: https://uwtsd.ac.uk/made/made-cymru-industry-summit/