![\"Rubbish](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_rbp_mai_270326cathays1778JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n‘I saw a stand-off between a rat and a seagull the other day around the rubbish’<\/p>\n
Residents and the council have called for more to be done(Image: WalesOnline)<\/p>\n
Residents in a Cardiff suburb have said a new approach to waste in the capital is causing the road to look constantly messy.<\/p>\n
Since Cardiff<\/a> council turned to a new approach to waste management in the city, which includes a red bin for hard plastic and cans and a blue bin for card, people living in the suburb of Cathays have said the bags and containers – including the brown food caddy – are being left on the pavements outside people’s houses throughout the week, rather than being taken in by residents.<\/p>\n Sometimes the bins are also strewn across the roads and pictures from the student area show the bins, most of which have been emptied, on the pavement and in the road in the last few days. It comes weeks after the council told residents they could soon have an eighth bin.<\/a><\/p>\n Now a council spokesperson has reminded residents of the expectation to take bins from the pavement once they’ve been collected in order to avoid similarly messy scenes, while some residents claimed the current state of the streets is attracting rodents. Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here<\/a><\/p>\n Pictures from the student area show the bins, most of which have been emptied, on the pavement and in the road(Image: WalesOnline)<\/p>\n Hakim Dualeh, 24, said the issue has always existed in Cathays and seems to be \u201cprogressively getting better\u201d, although he said \u201cover the last few months it\u2019s been a bit of a pain to deal with\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see a lot of bins left out, which then causes a lot of birds and rats. It\u2019s just not something you want to see on your streets,” he said.<\/p>\n Josh Armstrong, 21, who is also a student, said: \u201cI think a lot of the time it\u2019s not just because of people, I think it\u2019s also because of the weather<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get up the wind [has] often just blown the empty sacks further away. There\u2019s been quite a few times you accidentally pick up somebody else\u2019s because it just blown towards yours.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom our side, we can just be more active and just pick them up once they\u2019re collected. I think everyone should be just doing better.\u201d<\/p>\n This was the scene in Cathays when we visited(Image: WalesOnline)<\/p>\n Zahra, 33, who is also a student, said: \u201cI saw a stand-off between a rat and a seagull the other day around the rubbish. You often see them congregating, it\u2019s just not really nice to have to live around that.\u201d<\/p>\n She also said \u201cit just represents a complete lack of respect for the area\u201d and called for a more \u201ccollective effort\u201d from both the residents and the council to tackle the issue.<\/p>\n Another student, Hugo Gonzalez, 21, added: \u201cIt is annoying having to walk around them as you walk down the street.\u201d He said he often sees rats and seagulls around bins that have been left.<\/p>\n Some residents have called for more to be done to prevent the issue persisting(Image: WalesOnline)<\/p>\n![\"Pictures](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_rbp_mai_270326cathays1785JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_rbp_mai_270326cathays1779JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_rbp_mai_270326cathays1780JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n