Plans for three-weekly bin collections mean ‘people will have to recycle more’

Nicholas Thomas Local Democracy Reporter

Bin collections across a Welsh county borough could move to a three-weekly service, in the council’s latest plans to encourage more recycling.

A senior Caerphilly County Borough councillor said the policy means “people will have to recycle more and think about their refuse”.

Caerphilly has lagged behind other local authorities’ recycling performance in recent years, and has had to launch a new waste strategy to try and avoid multimillion-pound Welsh Government fines.

Its latest approach to driving up recycling rates will involve cuts to collections of residual waste (i.e. non-recyclable materials), which are currently picked up from the kerbside every fortnight.

Caerphilly County Borough Council is also considering four-weekly bin collections, but a new report shows it is more likely to pursue a new three-weekly service.

Consultation

Cllr Chris Morgan, the cabinet member for waste services, said most people who responded to a public consultation last summer indicated they would prefer three-weekly bin rounds over a four-weekly service.

However, the consultation question did not include an option to keep the current fortnightly collections.

“The choice is three- or four- weekly,” Cllr Morgan explained. “In our public consultation, 83% of respondents supported three-weekly.

“Modelling from the Welsh Government tells us a three-weekly collection will add 6% to our recycling figures, along with a kerbside collection.

“The idea is people will have to recycle more and think about their refuse – effectively we are making it harder for residents to not recycle.”

The council is also proposing adoption of a new system for separating recyclable materials, rather than continuing with the current single container scheme.

“Our current system, whilst convenient for residents, is not the most efficient way to maximise our recycling rates and we often experience problems with recycling bins being contaminated,” said Cllr Morgan.

“Separating items such as glass, paper and cans into separate receptacles is much more effective, and brings us in line with many other neighbouring local authorities who are already seeing positive impacts on their recycling rates.”

One option is to have a bag for paper and cardboard; a box for metals, plastic and cartons; another box for glass, and a food caddy.

But the council is likely to instead take up a system which offers even more segregation of materials.

That option would comprise a bag for cardboard, another bag for paper; a third bag for metals, plastic and cartons; a box for glass, and a food caddy.

Both systems are expected to increase Caerphilly’s recycling performance by just over 3% but the council’s preferred option could cost around £150,000 more to implement.

Costly option

When asked to explain the reason for choosing the more expensive option, Cllr Morgan said: “The Welsh Government has just been looking at possibly revising its Blueprint model, i.e. kerbside separation, and has a new preferred option which adds an additional separation of paper and cardboard.

“This is the model used by the top performing authorities, in Pembrokeshire and Bridgend, so it’s best if Caerphilly follows in this example to future-proof us. This saves us [from] making further changes after implementation.”

Garden waste, meanwhile, could be cut from a weekly service to fortnightly collections, and may also be limited to rounds between March and October.

A nappy waste collection service is likely to continue on a weekly basis via a free subscription system.

A council committee will discuss the proposals at a meeting on Tuesday June 17 before cabinet members issue a final decision in July.

If they are approved, the changes will likely come into effect in late 2027 or early 2028.