Welsh councils look to kerbside collections to boost recycling rates

One of five &#39e;xemplar' councils chosen by the Welsh Assembly to receive more support in return for reaching higher recycling targets (see letsrecycle.com story), Powys initiated the trade service after a survey found that 59% by weight of trade waste was potentially suitable for recycling.

The scheme will initially cover Llandrindod Wells, extending to other nearby towns by August 2003, since most of the reprocessing is carried out by businesses in the north of the county. The project will collect glass, card, paper, textiles, cans and plastics, and costs should be comparatively low – about 65,000 – because much of the necessary infrastructure is already in place for the county's residential kerbside recycling.

Powys council has also announced a six month trial to collect domestic garden waste. Starting on May 1 2003, the material will be collected in paper bags from the town of Brecon. It will cost about 55,000, which will mainly be spent on the hire of a split vehicle to collect both the green waste and normal black bag refuse.

Councillor Barry Thomas, portfolio holder for waste management at Powys county council, said: “This scheme shows the authority’s commitment to recycling issues within the county – 10% of household waste by weight is made up of garden waste and with summer fast approaching, it is important to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and use other means available in recycling our grass cuttings.”

The paper bags of green waste will be taken to the Brecon Transfer Station for shredding and composting.

With a current rate of around 17.5%, Powys has already exceeded the 15% by 2003-04 recycling and composting targets set by the Welsh Assembly for most Welsh councils. However, the county's &#39e;xemplar' status means it has to reach a target of 50% of waste to be diverted from landfill within three years.

Swansea
Elsewhere in Wales, Swansea council is looking to find out whether residents would recycle more by using boxes rather than bags in kerbside recycling collections.

In a joint venture with the Swansea Waste Disposal Company, 12,000 residents will be provided with boxes for paper, glass and cans. This will then be compared with the green sack scheme, in which 48,000 homes already take part.

The cost to the council for the 12-month trial using kerbside boxes is around 137,000, partly provided by the Landfill Tax Credits Scheme via the Swansea Environmental Centre. It is hoped that by using boxes, the public will be encouraged to recycle more waste.

David Jones, Swansea council’s cabinet member for environment and health, explained: “The idea is to try a box collection scheme to see whether it provides more effective or popular than the existing green bag scheme.”

The council also plans to expand the green sack collection soon to nearly 80,000 homes so that by the end of next year, all Swansea residents would be able to recycle from home. Swansea has already surpassed the Welsh assembly’s 2003-04 target of 15% with its current recycling rate of 15.2%.