Swansea hails impact of three black bag limit

A scheme to limit the number of residual waste bags Swansea council collects from residents to only three has after one month resulted in a 700-tonne reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill, the authority claims.

Since early April 2014, Swansea residents have been limited to putting out a maximum of three 70-litre residual waste bags for collection by the council every fortnight with the aim of cutting landfill tax costs (see letsrecycle.com story). Previously there had been no limit on the number of bags that residents could present for collection.

Although there is no direct policing of the limit, residents leaving more than three bags out for collection are having notes stuck to each extra bag by refuse workers and the extra bags are not collected. The notes state that the extra waste should be taken to the local HWRC or is left out for collection on the next cycle, although a council spokesman said that few notes have been issued.

Certain limit exemptions are available for households with multiple occupancy or residents disposing of nappies, for example, but the council spokesman said few residents had applied for such exemptions.

The local authority had been facing landfill costs of 4 million a year through the operation of its in-house fortnightly refuse collection.

Swansea also collects glass and metal in one green bag, paper and card in another green bag, and a separate pink bag for plastics from the kerbside on a weekly basis. But, a spokesman for the council said figures were not yet available on the impact of the residual bag limit on recycling rates.

However, the council launched its city-wide Keep it to 3 campaign to raise awareness among residents of the changes, and it claims that volumes of waste sent to landfill have fallen by 700 tonnes during the first month of the scheme compared to the same period last year.

The Keep it to 3 campaign included leaflets to every home in Swansea, bridge banners and a selfie competition to encourage people to use their kitchen waste caddies more.

And, on the first day of the black bag limit, 30 fewer tonnes of residual waste were collected in Swansea, the council claims.

Targets

June Burtonshaw, cabinet member for place, said: We should all remember that one less tonne to landfill is one more tonne to recycling and that means one tonne closer to hitting the 58% Welsh Government recycling target by 2016. At a time when budgets are tight, residents who Keep it to 3 are helping reduce the risk of fines for stepping over the 58% mark.

She added: What we all need to do now is keep up the good work over the coming months. Our recycling teams will be out and about across the city knocking on doors offering advice to residents, including those who are struggling to meet the Keep it to 3 target.

Furthermore, the council claims that comparatively few households have had to be contacted about putting out too many black bags.

Chris Howell, head of waste at Swansea council, said: It has been great to see how well local residents have embraced the campaign. There have been very few occasions on which weve had to issue stickers to a small number of people who have been over the limit.

Also in Wales, Gwynedd and Cardiff councils have been consulting residents over three-weekly and monthly residual waste collections respectively. These proposals, alongside Swansea councils three-bag limit, have provoked debate between the Welsh Government and DCLG minister Brandon Lewis, as the latter favours weekly waste collections (see letsrecycle.com story).