Residents in the south of Monmouthshire will see the new ‘two sacks’ recycling scheme be launched in their area next week.
The new service started in the Abergavenny and Monmouth areas in November and will now operate in Caldicot and Magor/Undy area this month.
Next week, each property in these areas will receive their bags and guidance on how the new system works. Chepstow will have their bags during the week beginning the February 1st and collections will take place the following week.
The changes are part of the council’s plans to increase recycling across the county. While overall the council is in the top six councils in Wales for recycling and composting, the dry recycling (such as paper and cans) in Monmouthshire is the lowest in Wales.
Recycling Officer, Rebecca Blount, said:
“We want Monmouthshire to be the best at recycling in Wales and with help from our residents using the new system we can increase recycling in Monmouthshire.
“The new service means that everyone in Monmouthshire can recycle their plastics.
“The materials recycled in the purple bags will be sorted at the recycling facility anyway, so if paper is in the purple bag it will still be recycled. However, we will gain better value for the paper that residents recycle if they separate it into the red bag. We are asking people to separate the paper and card to reduce contamination and increase its value.
“That means more money can be put into collections and giving people in Monmouthshire a great recycling service.”
The new system will mean all waste goes into sacks:
Red bag
Paper and light cardboard will go in the light red bag
Purple bag
All other recyclable materials will go in the purple bag.
White starch bag (or bulky bag)
Green waste and food waste will go in a biodegradable white starch bag. Green waste consists of garden cuttings, grass clippings, hedge trimmings, vegetarian pet waste, and cardboard. This service was already available to the majority of Monmouthshire residents.
Black bag
Residual & non recyclable refuse will go in black bags.
Roger Hoggins, Monmouthshire County Council’s Head of Operations said:
“We will also make sure that when the bags are delivered to households they will include a leaflet with guidance on what goes in each bag.”
“It’s been a hit in the north of the county where the new red and purple bag recycling scheme increased recycling by over 30% in the first week and saved an extra 30 tonnes of recycled materials from going to landfill.
“Other authorities that have changed to a ‘co-mingled’ service have consistently seen an improvement in their dry recycling performance.
“We are introducing many changes to collection days and it does mean some upheaval for residents. We are trying to limit this but it is inevitable if we are going to use our vehicles and collection crews effectively.”
“The scheme will operate for most households in the county. Some of the more remote areas will not be part of the scheme yet – we will take a little longer getting to these residents as we need to make arrangements for smaller vehicles to get up small lanes.”
The new service will collect from an extra 16,000 households on the M4 corridor. There is total of 36,000 households that are now a part of the scheme.
