Black bin bags will be picked up every three weeks instead of two from the end of January in Carmarthenshire. Residents will be able to put out a maximum of three black bags for collection, and also recycle more. That is because blue recycling bags will be picked up every week instead of two, alongside green food waste bins.
Another change is the introduction of a kerbside collection of glass bottles and jars, which will be the same day as black bags are picked up. These changes come into effect the week beginning Monday, January 23.
The council currently recycles and composts 62% of Carmarthenshire's municipal waste - the target is 64%, rising to 70% by 2024-25. Council chiefs hope the expansion of the recycling kerbside service will boost this rate, and have frequently pointed out that much of what people put in black bags can in fact be recycled.
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Cllr Edward Thomas, cabinet member for transport, waste and infrastructure services, said: "People may ask why we have changed how often we collect their black bags. This is because, on average, almost half of the contents put in black bags are recyclable, therefore there is still a lot more that we can do to reduce our waste.
"By collecting your blue bags more often, and by collecting even more items that can be recycled, such as glass, hygiene and nappy waste, you’ll have less non-recyclable waste to put out to be collected." Residents will soon receive an information pack and calendar explaining the changes and showing their collection dates for 2023.
The glass recycling and black bags will be collected by separate vehicles, and may be at different times during the collection day. Black boxes for glass will be delivered to homes between now and Friday, January 20. The council will also deliver a year’s supply of blue bags and food waste liners for brown kitchen caddies.
Cllr Thomas praised residents for their recycling efforts. "Thank you for continuing to do the right thing and for doing your bit for the environment, by sorting your waste and recycling what you can," he said.
Carmarthenshire generated 80,118 tonnes of municipal waste in 2021-22, according to StatsWales. The majority - 50,548 tonnes - was recycled or composted, leaving 29,570 tonnes of black bag waste, street cleaning rubbish and non-recyclable waste from civic amenity sites. The county's black bag waste is processed into a type of fuel and exported to Scandinavia and incinerated to create heat and power generation.
The council said households of six or more people will be able to request an exemption to the three bag per three week limit limit, as long as they were complying with the authority's full recycling schemes. These households will be granted an allowance of one extra black bag per three weeks.
Recycling depots will remain open but a review will take place in April to establish their use and requirement moving forward.
The council said the new kerbside service will cost more as waste crews will be making more collections than currently, but bumping up recycling rates will reduce the possibility of Welsh Government fines for missing targets. The authority also said the investment would help towards its ambition of being carbon "net zero" by 2030.
- Visit the council's website for further information, or if you want to sign up for its free hygiene and nappy waste collections.
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