Closure of Swansea landfill site confirmed

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

No more black bag waste will be buried in Swansea after February, it has been confirmed.

The county’s landfill site, Tir John, in Port Tennant, will close and non-recyclable rubbish will be transported to an incinerator, or incinerators, outside of Swansea.

Cllr Mark Thomas, cabinet member for environment enhancement and infrastructure management, said he had promised this to Port Tennant and neighbouring St Thomas.

“I am sure it will be welcomed in that area and locality,” he said at a meeting of full council.

But Cllr Thomas said he was unable to say exactly where the black bag waste would go because contract negotiations with “energy-from-waste” operators were still being concluded.

Energy-from-waste plants burn rubbish and produce electricity.

St Thomas councillor Clive Lloyd said he believed the council deserved credit for taking the Tir John workforce in-house from the arm’s length company which operated the site.

He said there had been concerns about the running and management of the site prior to the current administration coming to power in Swansea in 2012.

“This administration took those concerns extremely seriously,” said Cllr Lloyd.

He added that the communities of Port Tennant and St Thomas looked forward to Tir John closing.

House prices

Cllr Terry Hennegan was among those welcoming the closure, and said he believed house prices would shoot up in the area as a result.

The landfill closure formed part of a new waste strategy for Swansea for 2022-2025, which full council adopted.

The county’s recycling and composting rate is currently 64.5%, meeting Wales-wide targets. It will need to hit a 70% target in 2024-25.

In the meantime, work to cap Tir John and restore it will continue for a couple of years after it closes. A solar farm is due to be built on part of it.

Over the years, vast amounts of rubbish have been buried there. Just over 35,000-plus tonnes of black bag waste from homes and business served by the council ended up there in 2020-21 alone.