Households in a Welsh city will see an eighth bin as council bosses push forward with efforts to increase recycling

Kieran Molloy, Local democracy reporter

Householders in Cardiff will have eight bins soon as council bosses push forward with efforts to increase city recycling.

The city’s cabinet has agreed to implement a dedicated collection service for soft plastics within the city.

Soft plastics are flexible lightweight plastics such as film wrappers, bread bags or crisp packets.

The report presented in the meeting reads: “Evidence from local trials demonstrates that flexible plastic packaging can be incorporated into existing collection arrangements without capacity issues, using a straightforward system whereby residents receive rolls of dedicated 30-litre bags for the storage of clean, dry flexible plastics.

“These bags are then placed inside the red sack alongside existing cans and plastic containers for kerbside collection.”

The introduction of soft-plastic collections is expected to make a measurable contribution to Cardiff’s recycling performance.

It is intended to be implemented this summer, ahead of the statutory national requirement in April 2027.

During the meeting, Cllr Norma Mackie, cabinet member for waste, street scene & environmental services, said: “Soft plastics represent a significant proportion of Cardiff’s residual waste.”

The report reads: “Trials have shown that the use of dedicated collection bags yields operational and environmental benefits, including preventing lightweight material from escaping during set out, improving sorting efficiency when material processing, and providing clear, printed messaging that supports resident engagement”

The new service will initially exclude flats that use communal bins, however a separate trial will be conducted to determine the most effective methods for collecting soft plastics from these properties.

During the meeting, the cabinet also agreed to move the collection of “absorbent hygiene products” from biweekly to weekly collections from April 2026.

According to Cllr Mackie, both these interventions will aid Cardiff in achieving the Welsh Government statutory requirement of 70% of municipal waste being recycled.

During the meeting, Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Rodney Berman asked the cabinet member: “[Can you] explain why we’ve not perhaps kept pace with a number of other local authorities in Wales in terms of our recycling performance?”

He continued: “In the Welsh context, we’ve lagged a bit behind a lot of other authorities.”

Cllr Mackie said: “Anybody would recognise that Cardiff is different from a lot of other counties, we produce a lot more waste because he have a lot more people.”