Residents who live near a quarry and recycling site have raised concerns at the amount of plastic that is being spread on surrounding grounds.
Mark Roberts who lives in Gelligaer in the Rhymney Valley spotted the shreds of plastic in the fields behind his home, which are used by the local community as popular walking routes.
"I have seen all sorts in their, plastic gloves, surgical waste, it is plastic pollution," said 59-year-old Mark, who lives near the field.
The recycling centre and quarry is owned by Bryn Group, a waste management business. Their website states they accept all types of non hazardous waste including garden and food waste.
This waste is then composted, either into product available to purchase or for other uses like landscaping and construction.
Each type of end waste has a different process and goes through different levels of screening.
According to Bryn Group's website "certain end uses, such us landscaping and construction do not require the same degree of screening, while the higher-quality, grade one compost we sell for horticultural and agricultural uses is screened to a much finer standard".
This type of compost has been spread on a section of the fields at the recycling site, known as bunds.
Mark estimates that the size of the bund is around 200-300 metres square.
Mark has lived in his home all his life and he has memories playing on the fields they would refer to as the common land as a child.
"I have memories playing on those fields catching newts and the rest, and this has ruined it all.
"There was a flock of Canada geese on the bund the other day which is fantastic to see but I couldn't stop thinking about the plastic and what it would do to them."
"This is our children's and grandchildren's future."
He also reported finding an expensive piece of dairy equipment made out of plastic in the fields, but a spokesman for Bryn Group said this was in a grazing field which "fell off a cow" in the field.
He added: "The collars are not cheap bits of kit and they are reused, not thrown away. Once a cow is in calf, the collar is taken off and given to a cow after she calves. It would be great if we can have the collar back so we can put it back in use."
Mark is also concerned about the smell caused by the recycling site as well as the dust from the quarry.
"The smell from the recycling and the flies, we have had to buy one of those large UV units like you see in a fish shop its that bad."
WalesOnline previously reported on what it is like to live in Gelligaer due to its proximity to the quarry and the dairy farm.
Mark said cars and the windows of houses are constantly dirty due to the dust of the quarry and is concerned that a planning application to extend the quarry will only make this worse.
"It will only get closer to our houses," he said.
In relation to the plastic found on the bund, a spokesman for Bryn Group said: "The recent incident was an isolated event, for which we have apologised unreservedly.
"We have liaised Natural Resources Wales, and the actions we have taken are in line with their requirements.
"The compost that was contaminated with plastic has been removed from the surface of the bund and will be treated through our Material Resource Facility (MRF). That process involves several stages, starting with it being sorted through the MRF ‘picking line’ to separate the different materials."
He said the materials will be treated as follows:
• Recyclable material (plastics) will be baled and sent on to one of our processing partners.
• Compostable material will be recomposed here on site.
• Any residual material will be blended with biomass and used for energy-from-waste.
"We have a rigorous Integrated Management System in place for the processing of compost, which is why we have secured PAS 100 Product accreditation for our compost. We are conducting a thorough review to see how this incident occurred, and our findings will inform any necessary additional measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
"Our review will include conversations with our clients about the unacceptable level of contamination present in the green waste arriving on site. In the interim, we are conducting additional checks before compost is signed-off for use."
