Council confirms cuts to black bag collections
Richard Youle, local democracy reporter
Householders will only be able to put two black bin bags out for collection every fortnight rather than the current three as part of a new recycling plan.
Swansea Council said a survey showed that more than half of householders put out one or two black bags, and that two other future waste collection options it has considered would have meant three-weekly collections although the current three-bag limit would have been retained.
The planned change is part of a wider waste collection strategy intended to encourage more recycling and composting and less residual waste being sent out of county for incineration. Residents are to be consulted, and the reduction in black bags from three to two would, according to a council report, not come into force before next summer.
Reusable containers
The new waste strategy would also involve householders being provided with reusable containers with lids for cans, bottles, paper and card, thereby eliminating the approximately 10 million green single-use plastic bags currently used every year.
Another change would be no garden waste collections between mid-December and mid-March. This was felt to be preferable to charging for the service. The council trialled a two-month pause in garden waste collections last winter and said it was only aware of nine complaints and that there was no evidence of increased fly-tipping.
The authority is also looking into a Welsh Government-funded trial for kerbside collections of plastic film, with the potential to add textiles and electrical items.
The planned changes were one of three options for waste collections between 2025 and 2030. Overall the preferred option was felt to be cost-effective, lead to more recycling and require limited depot changes, although the reduction in black bags from three to two per fortnight was described in the report as a “disbenefit”.
Recycling and composting rates in Swansea have risen from 45% in 2011-12 to just over 70% currently. Wales’s 22 councils are expected to hit the 70% figure in 2024-25, with fines potentially for those that don’t, and more stringent Welsh Government targets could be introduced in the coming years.
Credit
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on July 18, council leader Rob Stewart said residents deserved credit for “doing a huge amount”. Wales, he said, was among the top three highest-recycling countries in the world and that Swansea was in the top three of Welsh councils.
He added: “We know that the majority of householders are putting out less than three back bags and we know that people want to recycle more if given more opportunities.”
Speaking after the meeting opposition leader, Cllr Chris Holley, said he felt detail was lacking and that there hadn’t been a sufficient opportunity to scrutinise the proposals. On the planned two black bag limit, he said: “Let’s see the evidence for it.”
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‘Householders will only be able to put two black bin bags out for collection every fortnight …’
Are they still using black polythene bin bags in Swansea? They’ve been obsolete for years in every other place that I know.
With all the work we’re doing for the councils and the cuts in services, how can they continue to expect us to pay more and more every year ?
I’m pretty sure that there is no evidence that people will generate less waste because they have two bins instead of three ? This is a backward step …what are people going to do with excess waste they still generate ? Watch this space ..I d like to see the evidence that this is cost saving or environmentally friendly?
I am a great critic of Swansea Council but the one thing they had done really well was the rubbish and re cycling systems , this is a case of if it ain’t broke don’t mend it . They waste much money elsewhere and it would be better spent maintaining the current system .
This method of trying to force people to recycle without officially making a criminal offence is a joke. Out of pure principle, i refuse to go alone with what they are trying to accomplish. My solution, fly tipping. Unpopular I know but at this point I don’t care, if they think they can force me to recycle by making my life harder they can think again.
We are just puppets , no say , keep taking more in council tax every year for less services, we will be taking all our own waste to the tip soon. Having to go collect your own recycling bags I mean what next.
This is a ridiculous unrealistjc and simply foolish way to try and reduce black bags. I recycle absolutely everything and still have 3 black bags some months (especially if I’ve had visitors staying). What are people who can’t drive to the tip, like older people etc going to do with the excess bags? Are they going to actually do something to the many students who have mounds of black bags, especially at end of term, or as usual will they be exempt from council rules on recycling and rubbish.
As a recent holiday maker in Wales we were faced with a crammed full waste bin on the day of arrival with a further 7 days before a three weekly collection day..Unabl to contact the local authority we were advised to put our waste in the public bins on the sea-front,Isn’t that illegal?
This is nothing, in Denbighshire they’re trialling monthly bin collections. I’ll give you even odds it’s compulsory throughout Wales in 12 months.
Why these councils think they can treat us with utter disdain is beyond me. More money for less service.
Councils are becoming ever more authoritarian and remote. Rhondda Cynon Taf are removing our wheelie bins and forcing us back to “Plastic” bags. No consultation just dictat! If this is about cost saving, the residents should be asked. Councils and their over paid senior teams for instance RCT CEO £151,000 pa (around the same as the UK PM) and pension of at least £39,000 need to revist their job descriptions and understand who serves who here.
I am not sure what people put in the black bags, some times my single black bag is not full after 3 weeks and I leave it for another 3 weeks!!
I was sceptical at our councils shift to fortnightly bags. But separating the plastic, tins etc. means I usually have one partially filled every fortnight. Unfortunately Bridgend council seems to have sourced the thinnest bags in existence and its a mess after every collection day, partially the broken bags every fortnight, partially for the discarded recycled bag stuff because (I assume) the council don’t give the bin men and ladies enough time to do the job properly. If people were getting fined for littering, then the council would be getting a lot of tickets for the mess they create every… Read more »
We pay them for a service we r not getting Pluse they getting us to do the work everybody wake up and smell the roses the tail is wagging the dog it’s nothing but a way to cut their own workers this dictatorship has to end even the road speed limit was forced thru without consultation we pay them not the other way round
I usually just pop the bag on the passenger seat and empty it piece by piece outside the council offices