PORT Talbot residents fed up with bearing the brunt of a recent increase in pollution have called on Tata Steel to clean up its act.
Children are being covered in dust when playing outside and homes, cars and gardens are being coated with fall-out dust particles, according to residents.
In response, the steel giant has admitted to having some technical problems with dust emission but said action had been taken and was confident of improvement.
Scores of residents flocked to an environment awareness information day held at Taibach Community Centre yesterday to air their concerns about the increase in pollution over the past few weeks.
The event aimed to give residents and local business owners an opportunity to speak with Tata environment bosses.
Gary Owen, who lives in Morfa Road in Margam, said residents were very frustrated.
"There were a lot of residents there with bottles that were full of dust that they had collected," he said.
"There were a lot of Tata people there but they were not really answering the questions.
"We need the jobs in the steelworks but we are in 2013, we should not have this pollution."
One Port Talbot resident, who did not want to be named, said she was concerned for her daughter and grandchildren, who live in Margam.
"The children are going out on the trampoline and when they come off they are black," she said.
"She went away for the week and when she came home she said they could see their footsteps going up to the house. It is terrible."
Margam councillor Rob Jones said pollution had been a "major problem" recently.
He said: "The recent fall-out is getting worse and worse.
"My wife swept the patio and there was two ounces of dust.
"I have said before it is the big particles I worry about. It has been appalling recently."
A Tata Steel spokesman said: "It's always more challenging for us in dry weather when the suppression systems and water bowsers' role become especially important. We have had some technical issues, but action has been taken and we are confident of improvement.
"In tackling the matter of dust emission in the long term, we have an air quality action plan which includes multiple initiatives all designed to reduce ambient dust levels — and we will be working with other relevant companies to reduce what is generated from the steelworks site.
"We monitor levels very closely and we are scrutinised by the Environment Agency — now National Resources Wales — and the local authority.
"We meet with these on a regular basis to review findings, and the conclusions of these meetings are often very helpful in influencing our strategy."
