Swansea Council has unveiled plans to transform recycling and household waste collections across the city.
It’s the latest stage in the Council’s commitment to make it easier than ever for local residents to recycle and comes after the roll-out of weekly kitchen waste collections.
Now the Council is adding kerbside plastic collections to the range of what can be collected. This will result in a substantial reduction in the bulk of black bag waste which, along with the weekly collection of food waste, means it can move to a new system of segregated waste collections.
The Council will also be issuing free of charge biodegradable liners for food waste bins.
Under this system residents will be able to put out kitchen waste every week with black bag waste and plastics one week followed by recycling materials like paper, glass, cans, cardboard and green waste the next.
John Hague, Cabinet Member for Environment, said the new system means there will continue to be kerbside collections every week. Segregated waste collections will also mean families can make an even bigger contribution to the environment and help the Council save money.
He said: “For every tonne of waste we send to landfill above our WAG landfill allowances we have to pay £200 in fines. Over the coming years the landfill allowance will reduce and landfill tax will increase and this will send the costs to Council taxpayers soaring if we do not change.
“So far the people of Swansea have done a great job in achieving recycling rates of more than 35% but we can’t stand still. We need to do better if we are to avoid massive costs in future years. Doing nothing is not an option.
“This approach has been successfully introduced by around 200 other Councils in the UK that have developed segregated waste collections. We have learned from their experiences and this is why we must collect food related waste weekly.”
The first phase of segregated waste collections is being introduced in the late summer. This will mean an increase in the range of recycling opportunities which will be available to families across the city whilst maintaining weekly collections of waste even though different elements will be collected on different weeks.
Cllr Hague added: “Recycling plastics has been available at our Civic Amenity and Recycling Centres for some time but this new initiative means families will not have to make a trip any longer than the distance from their front door to the kerbside for many of the things they recycle.
“No-one will have an excuse not to recycle and that will help look after the environment, help us meet WAG targets on recycling and reduce Swansea’s reliance on the expensive business of taking waste to landfill.”
