News

Council admits recycling failings but defends approach

16 Jul 2026 4 minute read

Plastic recycling – Image: The Welsh Government

Alec Doyle – Local democracy reporter

A council has said a report criticising its failure to meet Welsh Government recycling targets does not tell the whole story.

The Audit Wales Review of Waste Management and Recycling in Wrexham highlights the fact that recycling in the County Borough has fallen from 69.6% – the fifth best in Wales in 2019/20 to 63.8% – the fourth worst – in 2024/25.

Welsh Government requires all authorities to be recycling 70% of waste.

It also identified that Wrexham has the most expensive waste services in the country, spending £393 per household – £109 more than the next most expensive authority.

While the council accepted the data was accurate and reflected a problem it needs to address, it also claimed that its unique Private Finance Initiative with FCC Environment regarding waste processing meant it was not being compared fairly to other authorities.

FCC’s Mechanical Biological Treatment facility at Bryn Lane turns residual (black bin) waste into a ‘refuse derived fuel’ which is used to generate electricity for the National Grid.

According to Deputy Leader of Wrexham Council Cllr Dave Bithell, who is now Lead Member for Environment, that means around 0.05% of Wrexham’s residual waste goes to landfill.

He told Wrexham’s Governance and Audit Committee: “We welcome the report from Audit Wales.

“Wrexham Council has a good track record in waste and recycling, although in recent times our performance has not increased despite in the early years being in the top quartile in Wales.

“I recognise that our costs are high, although to put this into context, our in-house teams also work in waste services, highways and grounds maintenance.”

He explained that the PFI contract with FCC meant the cost per household to Wrexham was higher than the rest of Wales, but delivered good value for money.

“We do need to understand our costs and plan for when the contract is completed and make any efficiencies or income generation to reduce costs,” admitted Cllr Bithell.

The current PFI contract is due to run until 2038 – although Cllr Bithell did point out that at the end of that the ownership of the recycling park would revert to Wrexham Council, giving it control of a multi-million pound recycling centre and the MBT facility.

He also said plans were in motion to increase recycling rates generally.

“In respect of our performance, although currently below the statutory targets, we plan to increase our recycling and compost rates,” he said,

“Our revised strategy – to be introduced in early September – will set a clear focus on increasing our recycling rates and engagement with the public.

“We are also planning to introduce new weighted bags and recycling boxes as capacity across Wrexham is mixed between recycling boxes, trolleys, etc.

We also need to engage better with elected members and our constituents on how we can improve the service together with a plan on how we can reach 70%.”

He dismissed the idea of moving to three-weekly collections however – something that has allowed neighbouring authorities like Flintshire to achieve 70% recycling rates.

Cllr Bithell also defended waste collection staff, stating that they were doing their best but were being let down by the structure of the service.

“All the stats and all the indicators are that we have a very strong workforce and the framework we put in place is not allowing them to achieve the targets. It’s not a reflection of their direct performance, which is very strong based on complaints and the number of missed collections.”

Gareth Jones, Head of Service in Wrexham Council’s Environment and Technical Services Department, added: “I think the Audit Wales report was fair, although there were some elements obviously we challenged and maybe didn’t agree with in its entirety.

“It was a fair and robust process and it has highlighted some areas where I think we accepted we were falling short.

“We’re currently in the process of finalising a new strategy and we’re confident that putting those building blocks in place will allow us to increase our recycling performance, meet the challenges and recommendations of Audit Wales and hopefully be in a position next year to reach and exceed that 70% target.”

A more detailed waste strategy will be presented to the Council in September.

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