Council branded ‘Big Brother’ after every bin in Welsh county inspected

Emily Price

Opposition politicians in the Senedd have branded a council ‘Big Brother’ after every bin in a Welsh county was inspected to check residents were recycling.

Blaenau Gwent County Council revealed last month that every single household in the county borough had had their black bin bag waste inspected at some point over the past eight years.

Figures showed that council officials carried out more than 32,000 black bin inspections since 2017 as part of efforts to monitor and enforce recycling rules.

The council says the inspections were part of its “Keeping up with the Joneses” campaign to ensure that every household in Blaenau Gwent recycles.

The aim of the campaign is to target the small minority of people who don’t recycle at all or who recycle very little.

Households in the local authority that don’t start recycling and continue to place recyclable items into their black bins and bags could face a fixed penalty fine of £100.

If a resident fails to pay the fixed penalty fine, further legal action through the Magistrates Court will be taken where a more significant fine could be imposed.

The council says it is continuing to monitor areas in the local authority to ensure residents are “maximising their opportunities to recycle wherever possible”.

The Welsh Conservatives branded Blaenau Gwent County Council’s ongoing bin inspections as “incredibly dystopian”.

Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and the Environment, Janet Finch-Saunders said: “The people of Blaenau Gwent should not have to feel the council breathing down their necks to ensure they’re recycling.

“This is incredibly dystopian and echoes Big Brother watching their every move.

“Recycling should be simple, not burdened by ever-changing rules and heavy-handed enforcement.

“If we want people to recycle effectively, the process must remain easy and straightforward.

“With council tax rising year after year while services are being cut, people in Wales are right to question how their money is being spent and why they’re being asked to do more with less.”

Rates

Recent analysis has revealed that Wales is the second best country in the world for recycling with around 59% of waste recycled.

In recent decades, the Welsh Government has put a particular focus on improving recycling rates with statutory targets in place for local councils.

Last year, Blaenau Gwent Council exceeded its annual recycling target of 64%, achieving an overall recycling rate figure of 66.18%.

However, the Welsh Government raised the 2024-25 target to 70% – a figure that the council admitted would be a “challenge”.

Labour Blaenau Gwent Senedd Member Alun Davies argued the council is doing its best to improve recycling rates and blasted the Welsh Conservatives for their criticism.

He said: “We haven’t seen a Tory in Blaenau Gwent since the last election.

“They pop up every few years to criticise us and then disappear again so I really don’t take this criticism seriously.

“Our council and people across the borough are working hard to improve our recycling rates and deserve some support rather than unfounded criticism.”

Blaenau Gwent County Council was invited to respond.