The ongoing rumble about the Dirty Old Town of Aberystwyth has triggered plenty of panicky finger pointing. Depending on perspective, shabby Aber is the fault of tourists, or the anti-social behaviour of residents, or students and late-night revellers, or local government, or the waste collectors and street cleaners. But an eyes-open stroll around Aberystwyth streets shows the unfortunate state of our town centre is little to do with litter and waste. Images produced in the Cambrian News feature the occasional crisp packet, frame stubborn detritus caught behind temporary scaffolding, but hardly illustrate the town-wide skip suggested.

I have a privileged vantage point over Aberystwyth town centre and though I might also highlight occasions when a bag is blowing about, the fact is Aberystwyth remains largely tidy due to an excellent and regular cleaning regime. However, that should not stop us better supporting hard-working refuse services.

A depressing number of local retailers illegally exploit the domestic service even though regional councils, along with several private companies, offer dedicated collections for local business to utilise. The result is colossal quantities of cardboard sneakily placed a few doors down, late-night dumping of hundreds of drink bottles regularly overfilling glass-recycling points, and hastily tied black bags, often containing commercial food waste, deposited in, and piled around public bins.

It may be tempting for businesses to lean on a free service. Commercial waste management is an unwelcome expense right now, but this is no excuse for the self-harm caused by overburdening our residential services. So, enterprises who continue to fountain waste onto Aberystwyth streets need compelling into doing the right thing. Councils need to warn and as necessary, penalise those traders abusing domestic services. At present, there appears to be no enforcement policy.

As for Aberystwyth’s residents, I witness more individuals picking up than dropping stray litter. I observe waste separated, placed in well-tied bags, then put out on the appropriate days. Those who disregard this simple social undertaking, who plonk black bags outside any day, are few. But the reality is that no one wants garbage heaping up in their hallway for three weeks and for some residents, charging eighty-two pounds for a wheelie-bin leaves little alternative but to dump insecure waste on the street.

So, secure outside solutions for all town-centre residents should be organised as a priority. Free bins will certainly prove more cost efficient than clearing up the aftermath of the current situation. Ceredigion Council say such schemes are being piloted elsewhere in the county. Please crack on in Aberystwyth but be mindful that large residential bins will only be effective if irresponsible businesses are not permitted to habitually overfill them.

So, while there are waste issues requiring uncomplicated solutions, I am not recognising Aberystwyth as the landfill site recently described. And although our beach may not be Caribbean in colour or texture, our unpredictable coastline is to be celebrated. If visitors cannot accept the glory of Welsh Nature at its most whimsical (or know what seaweed is), this is not our problem. That ridiculous faux beach inserted where the paddling pool stood? An unnecessary and expensive apology.­

What is our problem, and what we should apologise for, is the dilapidated condition of the town. ‘Needs a bit of work’, the polite YouTube observation. And looking up at dour-toned and peeling paintwork, particularly around Darkgate Street and Pier Street, walls streaked with fossilised gull crap, there is an undeniable skip-like appearance to Aberystwyth. Large organisations such as Starbucks, Tui, and sadly even ‘Party of Wales’ Plaid Cymru let us all down by not properly maintaining the filthy facades of their properties when surely, they have the required resources.

Not the case for smaller independent businesses. Exterior renovation is not only low down the priority list, but currently financially impossible to contemplate while also struggling to survive. So, colour me biased (for I occupy such a plot), development and levelling-up money could not be better invested than by supporting a coordinated spruce up of tatty town-centre businesses and residences. Accessible fast-track grants for an immediate power-wash and overdue lick of bright paint would transform Aberystwyth. Contrast then imagine shabby Aber with the crisp and well-maintained paint job of Aberaeron.

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