The Vale of Glamorgan Council is set to roll out its successful kerbside kitchen waste recycling service to the remainder of the Vale, bringing a further 36,000 homes on board by 31 March 2011.
Cllr Geoffrey Cox, cabinet member for visible and building services, said: “Soon every household in the Vale will benefit from a weekly kerbside kitchen waste recycling collection. The service continues to be very successful both in terms of participation and capture. To date around 20,000 households participate in the scheme with a further 20,000 homes in Barry being the first to benefit from the roll-out during December and January, closely followed by the remainder of the Vale.”
Barry Island, the Knap and Garden Suburb area in Barry already benefit from the service and the remaining areas of Barry will soon receive information about the scheme so they’re ready to start in December. Remaining areas will receive information early next year.
The kitchen waste recycling kit comprises of both a kerbside and kitchen caddy, complete with a roll of biodegradable cornstarch bags with which to line the kitchen caddy. Residents can add food items such as beans, pasta, rice, dairy products, fruit and vegetables, meat and fish (including bones and shells), tea bags and coffee grinds – to name but a few – to their collections.
Each week the Council’s recycling crews will collect the deposited biodegradable cornstarch bags from the kerbside caddies and take them to Penllyne Farm in Cowbridge (Cowbridge Compost) where the material will be recycled through ‘in-vessel’ composting.
The process comes full circle on the last Saturday morning of every month when residents are able to collect free compost, created by the Vale’s waste, for their gardens. To arrange an appointment to collect compost from Penllyne Farm, Cowbridge, residents can telephone 07973 894773 or 01446 772600. You’ll need to bring a suitable container.
Head of Visible Services, Miles Punter, said: “It’s evident from the experience of the majority of our current 20,000 service users that the scheme is well-respected and is achieving real improvements in our recycling figures. Residents have been surprised with the amount of food waste that they actually create and this has led to changes in food buying and cooking habits, reducing the cost of the family food bill in some cases.”
The Welsh Assembly Government’s (WAG) new National Waste Strategy, ‘Towards Zero Waste One Wales One Planet’, sets ambitious and proposed statutory targets. WAG has proposed a statutory recycling target for food waste of 12 per cent.
The introduction of weekly food waste collections, coupled with the existing dry recycling arrangements, means it’s no longer necessary to collect black bag waste on a weekly basis. Therefore, black bag waste collections will take place on alternate weeks (once a fortnight) as part of the scheme.
Should residents have concerns with respect to the storage of waste sanitary products due to the alternate week black bag collections, the Council is able to provide an additional black lockable caddy to store such items for this longer period. This service is available on a ring and request basis. If accepted for this service, residents will have their black caddy collected at the same time as their alternate week black bag collections.
For more information visit the website at www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/recycle, email [email protected] or telephone 01446 700111.
To arrange an appointment to collect compost from Penllyne Farm, Cowbridge, residents can telephone 07973 894773 or 01446 772600. You’ll need to bring a suitable container.
