Valleys council could face fine of nearly £300k for missed recycling targets

Anthony Lewis – Local democracy reporter

A Valleys council could face a fine of nearly £300,000 if it does not meet the Welsh Government’s recycling target this year.

In its new waste and resource strategy Merthyr Tydfil council says that by 2024-25 Welsh local authorities must achieve a 70% recycling rate or
face financial penalties of £200 for every tonne under this target.

The potential cost to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council based on the current recycling rate for 2023-24 of 64.3% is around £292,000.

But by increasing recycling rates to 70% and reducing overall waste the council could save over £800,000 of unnecessary costs a year through avoided fines and lower volumes of black bin waste.

Waste

A study in 2022 found that 52% of the contents of wheelie bins in Merthyr could be recycled, with 30% being discarded food waste, and if all material recyclable from home in Merthyr Tydfil was placed in the correct bin the savings would be around £565,000 each year.

The strategy says that like many councils Merthyr Tydfil faces ongoing pressures to reduce costs and improve efficiency while maintaining essential services.

It says managing waste in black bins is one of the most significant expenses for waste services whereas recyclable materials can generate income of
offset processing costs.

The strategy says that reducing waste in black bins by maximising what residents and businesses recycle is the most effective way of offsetting the cost of delivering waste services and will put the council in a better position to meet future recycling targets and avoid financial risks from changes such as the emissions trading scheme (ETS).

The ETS aims to cut carbon emissions from waste incineration by limiting the
amount of fossil-based materials, such as plastics, that are burned and by
encouraging cleaner technologies.

From 2028 waste incinerators will have a restriction on total emissions permitted from local authorities.

Currently non-recyclable waste sent to the Trident Park Energy from Waste facility from Merthyr Tydfil contains fossil-based materials and will be affected by these new regulations.

If current recycling rates remain unchanged and waste minimisation efforts
are not increased the estimated cost to Merthyr Tydfil could rise from
£400,000 per year in 2028 to around £586,000 per year by 2035.

Cost

However achieving recycling and waste reduction targets could lower this cost to £194,000 per year by 2035.

Between 2012-13 and 2022-23 Merthyr Tydfil’s recycling rate increased from 49.14% to 64.28% while the total amount of waste produced decreased by more than 4,000 tonnes.

The introduction of the Welsh Government collections blueprint recycling service in 2015  helped boost the recycling rate to 65.1% in 2016-17 with the highest rate being achieved in 2020-21 (67%).

The figure for 2023-24 of 64.3% meant 16,000 tonnes of waste were recycled, £2m saved through recycling instead of disposal, and 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions were avoided.

The council is currently consulting on the strategy covering 2025 to 2030 which includes five main aims.

One of these is “prevent waste” where the focus will include reducing avoidable waste through smart shopping, meal planning and making the most of leftovers, promoting reusable and refillable alternatives to single-use items such as water bottles, coffee cups, plastic bags, cutlery, wet wipes, nappies, and sanitary products, and highlighting water refill locations across Merthyr Tydfil to help reduce the use of single-use bottles and reduce litter.

The second is “increasing reuse and repair” by promoting local reuse and repair opportunities, launching a large item delivery service, exploring the potential for opening a community repair cafe, making sure reusable items are collected quickly to prevent damage from being stored outside, creating a reduced-price section at the A New Lease of Life reuse shop, and working with other council departments.

The third aim is “increase recycling to beyond 70%” with the council planning to use communications and engagement, introduce flexible plastics into recycling collections by 2027, look at the feasibility of collecting disposable nappies and incontinence pads, support households with low participation in recycling, implement a new waste enforcement policy, address the issue that 52% of the waste placed in black bins could be recycled, potential site improvements to household recycling centres, and ensure readiness for phase two of the Workplace Recycling Regulations.

‘Decarbonisation’

The fourth aim is “decarbonisation of waste services” with the council looking at opportunities to trial different ultra-low-emission vehicles for black bin waste collections, to continue to monitor development and learn from other areas, and make collection routes as efficient as possible.

And the fifth aim is “infrastructure – our waste sites, recycling centres and vehicles” with the council looking at how it can incorporate flexible plastics and other additional materials, replacing recycling vehicles in the next three to five years and look at options to either build a new site or extend our current
facilities into a “super-site”.

The council says that this will help it to tackle several challenges and ensure waste and recycling services continue to be effective and efficient.