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cardiffdigs.co.uk is a one stop website for student housing and living needs, addressing the needs of students and the community. The website is funded by a partnership made up of Cardiff Council with the three universities; Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan and Glamorgan.

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Get It Out For Cardiff Green Zones

20 Green Zones have now been set up across the city and student halls of residences and Unions. The Green Zones comprise of a collection for the:

YMCA (clothes/shoes/bags/textiles/electrical items/media/CD’s/DVD’s/books)

Food (tins, packets, jars, not fresh) for FareShare

Kitchen equipment (plates, mugs, utensils, pots and pans) for storage and re-sale at the start of term with proceeds to charity

The Green Zones compliment our YMCA re-use banks.

So when you clear out, donate it. End of term charity collection, when you clear out donate reusable goods to charity.

Green Zone collection points are located in Laundry rooms/Reception in halls of residences and Cardiff Student Union. Please sort items into the relevant charity bins.

14 YMCA re-use banks are located across the city to compliment these Green Zones

Campaign information including pin point google maps of the locations of the Green Zones and YMCA banks can be founds via:

http://www.cardiffdigs.co.uk/getitout.htm

First collection

The banks are located around Cardiff University, Cardiff Students Union, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Liberty Living and Victoria Halls across Cardiff. The first collection saw the YMCA pick up 53 6kg bags of re-usable items so approximately a third of a ton has been donated and saved from landfill already.

Each year at the end of term Green Zones are installed across halls of residences and unions to collect re-usable items for charity. Last year the scheme to collect re-usable items that previously would’ve been destined for landfill was a resounding success with over nine tonnes of items collected.

Get It Out For Cardiff is a Keep Cardiff Tidy partnership. The re-use campaign is lead by the cities Student Liaison Officer, Kieran McCann and Lucy Prisk from waste management. Kieran said:

“We are always looking at inventive ways to increase the scope of re-use so I’m delighted the YMCA has come on board with the partnership. This allows us to develop the scheme year round, increase re-use, continue to divert items away from landfill and benefit charities and the local community. This really showcases ongoing partnership commitments to civic pride and dedications to recycling”

Andrew Jenkins, YMCA manager said:

“We are thrilled to be involved and come on board with such an innovative scheme. “With the funds from donations we will develop more training placements on the YMCA Volunteer Scheme and invest in projects and services for homeless people at the Cardiff YMCA Housing Association. Our sincere thanks to Kieran, Lucy and the team for pulling this together”

Cardiff win Varsity Cup and Shield while KWT keep it clean

On Wednesday Cardiff had much to celebrate at this year’s Welsh Varsity winning both the Varsity Shield and Cup.

The day saw Cardiff play Swansea in a range of grudge matches with the final score of 18 to Swansea’s 5.

Besides the day’s victories Cardiff had much to celebrate as they took those high spirits to the Millennium Stadium to watch Cardiff come out victorious to claim their fifth Varsity Cup win in 16 years of the Welsh Varsity. Final score was 33-13

With thousands of spectators and an attendance of 15,662 at the stadium there were plenty of revellers out on the glorious day. Keep Wales Tidy were tasked with being the clean up group for the Varsity events on Pontcanna fields and around the Welsh Institute of Sport.

From 1-7pm they had 40 volunteers working in 2 hour slots collecting and sorting the rubbish into recyclables and non recyclables. They even went as far as sorting ferrous from non-ferrous cans. Altogether, they collected 3 large bins of recycling, 1.25 large bins of general rubbish and 10 bin bags full of crushed aluminium cans.

Volunteers ranged from Cardiff Rivers Group, litter champions, Friends of Bute Park, Environmental Champions, BT and HSBC and supported by members from Cardiff Council's Recycling Team and the cities Student Liaison Officer.

The pictures from today, show the volunteers returning to the collections area with the sorted can line getting longer and longer.

Many of the volunteers took advantage of free tickets to watch the Varsity Rugby Game in the evening and enjoyed the atmosphere and a Cardiff win.

Chris Partridge, Keep Wales Tidy's Tidy Towns Funded Project officer for Cardiff commented

"I'd like to thank all the volunteers who were brilliant today. They worked really hard, were friendly to the students and coped with students coming in from all directions and both sides of the river. They cleared from 1-7pm clearing both sides of the River from Blackweir down to the end of Bute Park and all around WIS. It was a challenging day but most of the volunteers reported that the visitors from Swansea were very polite and placed bottles and cans in the bags as the volunteers passed by”

Welsh Varsity has arrived

Throughout today the annual Cardiff v Swansea University, Varsity sports day is taking place. For all the match details visit: http://welshvarsity.com/

The majority of games will be held in Pontcanna fields and Welsh Institute of Sport, before the flagship rugby match in the evening in the Millennium Stadium.

Keep Wales Tidy (http://www.keepwalestidy.org/)
 have been recruited to manage the site for litter; so if you are taking food or drink to the site please use the litter bins provided or find one of the Keep Wales Tidy volunteers to give it too. Please don’t spoil the pitches and throw your litter on the floor

Consumer Advice Centre promotes StayPrivate service

As part of the Scamnesty drive to tackle scams and to protect vulnerable consumers, the Consumer Advice Centre of Trading Standards is promoting their Stay Private online service.

StayPrivate is a free and easy way of reducing the amount of unwanted mail and sales calls by bringing various marketing opt-out services together.

It’s a service offered by the Consumer Advice Centre in Bridge Street all year round, and allows consumers to register for the Mail Preference Service (MPS), Telephone Preference Service (TPS), and the Fax Preference Service (FPS)

In order to register, a consumer simply has to visit the office at 71 Bridge Street, Cardiff between 9 - 4:30, Mon-Fri.

World book night celebrated in Cardiff

Libraries across Cardiff will celebrate World Book Night on Monday April 23, with the event marked across the UK, Ireland, Germany and the USA

World Book Night is a celebration of reading and books, and sees thousands of people share books within their communities for people to benefit and enjoy. People from across the UK have registered to receive free books so they can distribute within their local community. The night is a great incentive to encourage library users new and old to go along to their local library and find out about the great services and events on offer.

Operational Manager of Cardiff Libraries, Elspeth Morris, said: “Reading a book can be a life-changing experience! World Book Night is a great opportunity to celebrate and share the benefits reading can bring to people who may not be avid readers. Libraries are fundamental to reading so naturally we want to see everybody reading, not just on World Book Night, but every night!”

Events taking place in Cardiff include -

Canton Library

Monday April 23 from 7pm - 10pm. Live music from local musicians, Philip Gross winner of Wales Book of the Year 2010 will read some of his latest work. Deborah Kay Davies winner of Wales Book of the Year 2009 will be reading from her work and there will also be poetry readings from Norman Schwenk. Get your free ticket now from Canton Library, Tel: 2022 9935, Email: cantonlibrary@cardiff.gov.uk

Fairwater Library

Monday April 23 ,meet local author Eileen Younghusband, Barbara Pontin and Annette Williams will be in the library are various times to read extracts from their work For more info, Tel: 2078 5583, Email: fairwaterlibrary@cardiff.gov.uk

Cardiff Central Library

Friday Apri 27th, World Book Night Quiz, teams of up to 5 people can battle it out to win the cash prize.
Starting at 7.30 the quiz is £1 per person and everyone who enters receives a free book! To register or for further information contact Grangetown Library, Tel: 2023 0526, Email: grangetownlibrary@cardiff.gov.uk


For more details on library events, visit www.cardiff.gov.uk/libraryevents Or you can Like Cardiff Libraries
on Facebook or Follow them on Twitter to receive the latest updates http://www.facebook.com/cardiff.central.library and http://www.twitter.com/cdflibraries

Free ticket to Varsity for a few hours of your time

On Wed 2nd May the annual Cardiff v Swansea University, Varsity sports day is taking place. The majority of games will be held in Pontcanna fields and Welsh Institute of Sport, before the flagship rugby match in the evening in the Millennium Stadium.

Keep Wales Tidy (http://www.keepwalestidy.org/) have been recruited to manage the site for litter; rather than pay an expensive private contractor, the University will make a donation to Keep Wales Tidy to support their amazing environmental work.

So, they need your help! We need to muster a team of volunteers to patrol the fields from 1 – 7pm

People who volunteer for a shift will be given a free ticket for the rugby match (price £10). There are 3 shifts: 1-3pm, 3-5pm and 5-7pm

So, if you would like to help please let Louise know the following info.

Name:
Preferred shift: 1-3pm; 3-5pm; 5-7pm
Contact phone number:
Contact e-mail:

If you have any questions, please just get in contact with Louise.

All equipment provided, no experience required.

louise.tambini@keepwalestidy.org

Tel: 02920 726976