Since September, the Welsh nationalists have been in touch with the 22 local authorities in Wales to gain information about their recycling habits, using the Freedom of Information Act.
The Party's research revealed that seven councils in Wales – Cardiff, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Powys, and Swansea – are exporting waste to countries outside the EU, including China, India and Brazil.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com today, Plaid Cymru's sustainability spokesperson Leanne Wood stated that her aim was to put pressure on ministers to help local authorities expand their recycling facilities while ensuring waste was dealt with either locally or sent abroad and dealt with responsibly.
She said: “We are going to call on the government to ensure that firstly, if recycled material does have to be sent abroad, steps will be taken to ensure workers at the other end are not exploited and secondly to ensure that recycled waste sent abroad is actually recycled, not landfilled.”
Best Practice
Ms Wood also noticed a lot of variation in performance throughout Wales with some councils dealing with all the waste in the UK, some who were unsure of where their waste was being sent to and those who exported high tonnages.
She said: “There is room for local authorities to do more and to learn best practice from each other – we will be doing more work on this. Our aim is to ensure that the new money allocated for recycling – in the budget report – is going to be spent in a way which doesn't exploit others.”
Ms Wood also said that Plaid Cymru is in favour of the proximity principle:
“I'd like the Government in Wales to do something to help councils to provide facilities as near to their local area as possible. We also want to ensure that while services are being expanded we need to consider what happens to the produce at the other end.” She said.
She did, however, acknowledge that it wouldn't be possible to deal with all waste at a local level, for example – such as Tetra Pak which is sent to be recycled in Sweden.
| Plaid Cymru – Recycling Survey | |||
| Local Authority | % Recycling rate | Recyclable waste exported? | |
| Blaenau Gwent | 23.29
|
N/A | “Not that we are aware, we try to use UK processors in all cases” |
| Bridgend | 21.44 | No | |
| Caerphilly | 28.08 | N/A | The recyclable materials collected are sent to licensed materials re-processors in the UK. Who, in turn offer the materials for sale to the markets. |
| Cardiff | 11.66 | Yes | Indonesia/China Cardboard (baled) Sweden Newspapers/Magazines India plastic bags China Plastics (mixed) Various Germany – mixed paper |
| Carmarthenshire | 25.18 | No | |
| Ceredigion | 36.7 | N/A |
All recyclate collected by the council is sent to reprocessors within the UK. |
| Conwy | 42.82 | No | |
| Denbighshire | 26% | Yes | Netherlands, Ireland and China (for plastics) France, Spain and Portugal (for glass) |
| Flintshire | 33.35 | Yes | China – plastic film Ireland – some recycling Eastern European and Developing Countries – some textiles |
| Gwynedd | 25.02 | No | |
| Isle of Anglesey | 25 | N/A | |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 20.42 | N/A | “There is a possibility…” |
| Monmouthshire | 31 | Yes | No 'waste' collected is exported out of the UK. some plastics collected for recycling are reprocessed in China. |
| Neath Port Talbot | 25 | N/A |
Companies may export certain materials. |
| Newport | 31.04 | Yes | Scandinavia – Tetra Pak cartons |
| Pembrokeshire | 26.46 | Yes | China – Cardboard & Orange Plastic Bags India – aluminium cans Indonesia – plastic bottles |
| Powys | 40.6 | Yes | Tianjin, China – Mixed Cans |
| Rhondda Cynon Taff | 26.45 | No | |
| Swansea | 29.02 | Yes | Various locations in Far East – Cardboard China and the Far East – Plastics Brazil – Mixed Glass |
| Torfaen | 37 | N/A | “All of the products that we sell are sent to UK re-processors.” |
| Vale of Glamorgan | 22.49 | No | |
|
30.09
|
No |
|
|
Register for free to comment