Council clears up waste and recycling confusion

Monmouthshire's Head of Waste explained this week how the changes in waste and recycling collections will affect resident

Dave Harris said:

"Some misunderstandings may have arisen from recent publicity about our plans for increasing recycling and composting of households waste.

"We've created a table to clarify both the plans and time scales for these changes.

"Additionally, householders affected by any of the changes will also receive more detailed information close to the times when the changes are to take place so they can be clear about what to do.

"Residents in Monmouthshire already recycle and compost almost 40% of their waste but we need to move this up to 52% by 2014 and 70% by 2025.

"That means increasing our recycling by over 3% each year.

"The changes set out below are to enable more householders to recycle and compost more of their waste. We would also encourage them to reduce the amounts of waste they create where possible.

"In summary, all recycling, green waste and food waste collections remain weekly with a phased introduction of a wider range of materials being collected.

"Households who have no food waste collection will retain a weekly collection of general refuse.

"Where food waste is collected general refuse collections will gradually move to a fortnightly collection because the amounts of waste will fall as recycling increases."

Food & Green Waste Collections  These will continue to be collected WEEKLY We will be issuing free supplies of food caddy liners to all households with food collection to enhance the service

Dry Recycling Items - paper, cans, bottles, card, etc with plastics and other items being added over time.      This will continue to be collected WEEKLY.

Where this is currently provided by a black box it will gradually be replaced with a purple sack for a wider range of materials, including plastics. This is likely to take place over then next 9 months

General Refuse Collections Households with no food waste collection. This service will continue to be collected WEEKLY     

General Refuse Collections

Households who have a food waste collection.     This service will gradually move to a FORTNIGHTLY collection phased in from late Autumn 2009 over an 18 month period  

Residents with no current Recycling or Food & Green Waste Collections We will be extending kerbside collections where practically possible but will also be providing local mini recycling sites for recyclates in locations around the County. As these are developed local information will be circulated. These mini sites will be collected at least weekly.

Free Starch Sacks for Green Waste.       These will be cease to be issued once stocks are exhausted and a free dumpy bag will be provided to all households that request one in place of the sacks. Additional bags are available at a range of outlets across the County.

Civic Amenity or Household Waste Recycling Sites & Bring Sites  There are four household waste recycling centres and over 30 bring sites across the County where residents can recycle a wide range of their wastes. We are upgrading these sites, starting with Llanfoist, to increase the range and amounts of materials that can be recycled. Wood and wood products are currently being added and more materials will follow.

Opening hours of the four sites will be extend to 8am from October this year and closing times will be rationalised at 6 pm. All four sites are open every day of the year, except Christmas Day & New Years Day.