Council to target homes that haven’t fully embraced recycling yet

After posting its highest ever recycling figures, Bridgend County Borough Council will step up its eco-friendly efforts even further this spring by working closely with homes that have yet to fully embrace recycling.

The council recently recorded a 74 per cent recycling rate thanks to the efforts of local residents who have become greener than ever since new collection arrangements were introduced last summer.

But the council has pinpointed some homes that aren’t doing their bit, and are instead regularly putting out bundles of bin bags.

Starting this week, those homes will be written to with reminders of the new arrangements, which include a limit of two bin bags per fortnight for most households.

The council’s recycling contractors Kier will also start to place stickers on any extra bin bags that homes leave out above their fortnightly waste limits.

Anyone in this situation will need to take their stickered bags back in from the kerbside, take another look at whether the bags contain any recyclable materials, and either put their waste back out for their next collection or take it to their nearest community recycling centre.

As a very last resort, persistent offenders will be issued with a fine of up to £100.

Our recycling rate between July and September 2017 reached an impressive 74 per cent, which was a huge increase on the 57 per cent we recorded for the same period in 2016. This was only possible because of the new collection arrangements that were introduced in June.

Deputy Leader Hywel Williams.

“Before our new scheme was introduced there was understandably a lot of trepidation about the waste limits, and I’d like to thank the thousands of residents who have embraced the new scheme wholeheartedly and are giving more consideration than ever to what materials can be recycled.

“It is clear that despite a difficult introduction, the new collections have provided a massive boost to recycling, and are well on their way to achieving what we wanted.

“Now that everyone has had time to get used to the new arrangements, we want to work with those homes that aren’t recycling as much as they could to find out what their issues are.

“We’ll be phasing in the enforcement gradually across all parts of the county borough.”

Councillor Williams added: “It’s surprising just how achievable it is to cut down on your bin bag waste when you consider that it is possible to recycle a vast number of materials including cardboard, drinks cartons and tetra packs, newspapers and magazines, junk mail and envelopes, plastic bottles and food containers, foil trays, food tins and cans, glass bottles and jars, food waste and much more.

“It’s even possible to recycle textiles, shoes, batteries, mobile phones, spectacles and small electrical items such as toasters, kettles, irons, hairdryers from the kerbside.

“Our new Absorbent Hygiene Products purple bag collection has also proven popular, with around 8,000 households signing up for the fortnightly service which enables nappies and AHP waste to be recycled.

“I appreciate it takes time and effort to recycle, but TV programmes such as Blue Planet II have once again highlighted the importance of recycling by showing the devastating impact that people across the world are having on the environment by not disposing of their waste responsibly.

“It’s important for everyone to do their bit, no matter how small it may seem at the time in the grand scale of things.”

Local residents are reminded that they should call 01656 643643 (+ option 2) or email recyclingandwaste@bridgend.gov.uk if they need to request any recycling containers or bags, report missed collections or have any queries related to their collections.