Carmarthenshire county council will also introduce sorting of residual waste black bags at its Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) and will offer households free food caddy liners in a bid to increase participation in its food waste collection service.
Previously Carmarthenshire residents were able to put four bags of residual waste out for collections every fortnight, but changes to the collection service mean that only three bags will be accepted for collection from October.
The local authority is making changes in the hope of meeting the Welsh government’s 64% recycling target by the end of the 2019/20 financial year. Failure to do so would see the council face a fine of £164,000 for every 1% it is away from the target. The council reports that its recycling rate has dropped to 58%, having achieved a 63.6% figure in 2017/18.
Cllr Hazel Evans – board member for environment – told the council’s executive that a major education programme would also be launched, as Carmarthenshire looks to recover from the dip in its recycling rate.
“In recent years we have achieved high recycling figures but last year there was a reduction in our overall figure and we only just achieved 58%,” she said.
“This year’s target is 64% and Welsh Government have said they will fine local authorities if they do not reach it and it is £164,000 for every 1% failure of the target.
Cllr Evans added: “So if we stay as we are that could mean a fine of £820,000 which is the equivalent of 17 teachers or 33 care workers.”
Black bag sorting
From October sorting areas will be added at HWRCs for black bag waste. Any recyclable materials will have to be removed from the bags by residents.
“This year’s target is 64% and the Welsh Government have said they will fine local authorities if they do not reach it.”
When the Vale of Glamorgan introduced similar measures last year it found that 60% of black bag waste being taken to HWRCs was in fact recyclable (see letsrecycle.com story).
The black bag sorting will follow measures introduced in April to discourage people bringing waste in from out of county and to stop commercial waste entering the sites.
Kerbside bag collection
In Carmarthenshire residual waste and recycling are collected in bags from the kerbside, which are provided by the council.
A consultation carried out last year by the council found that 86% of respondents supported a reduction in the number of non-recyclable waste bags which could be collected, with 64% believing this should be limited to three per household.
Families of six or more, those with children in nappies and households that produce coal ash waste from indoor fireplaces will be able to apply for additional bags, if needed.
Research in Carmarthenshire also showed that 64% of households who don’t recycle their food waste said they would if offered free food bin liners.
The local authority hopes that the reduction in black bags collected, along with the offer of food waste liners, will increase the county’s recycling rate by 3.3%
Carmarthenshire county council manages waste through its own company, CWM Environmental.
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