I GRADUATED from Aberystwyth University with a BA in geography in 2009, writes Mererid Jones, Ceredigion County Council’s waste projects and engagements officer.

As part of my degree I did some studies on environmental issues and sustainability. Within this, we looked at the amount of waste being produced and what had been happening to it through the decades. This gave me an understanding of why we couldn’t just keep land­filling items and letting resources go to waste.

As part of our field work, we visited New York, looking into how one of the largest cities in the world deals with all of its waste. In the past, a vast amount of waste had been thrown into the sea, but they also transported waste from the main islands on a barge to a landfill site on Staten Island. At the time of our visit, the site had reached capacity and New York was looking at different ways of dealing with waste. This sparked my interest in ways of dealing with waste.

After a short while working in other jobs, an opportunity to join Ceredigion County Council arose as a waste minimisation assistant just over five and a half years ago. I feel very privileged to be working and living in such a beautiful place like Ceredigion and not having to move out of my home county to look for work.

My job title has changed over the years due to restructuring, but my main duties have generally stayed the same. My current role is waste projects and engagements officer which involves communicating waste-related messages to the public through local press, social media, and the council’s website.

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