EVERYTHING

MANAGERS in charge of Bridgend’s controversial £82m seven-year Kier waste contract appeared before councillors on Monday to answer questions on the first year’s performance.

Heavily criticised when the new system started – missed and delayed collections led to maggots infesting uncollected waste in the early days - councillors say there has since been ‘huge’ improvements.

Below are some of the issues raised during the scrutiny committee meeting. Black plastic There are no plans to introduce a black plastic recycling system in Bridgend due to the cost of recycling it.

Mr Akhtar said it would cost around £110k a year to recycle the material.

He said: “The market for black plastic doesn’t really exist.

“There’s hardly any weight in black plastic, it’s more bulk than weight so you would have to get an awful lot together to make it worthwhile.

“It’s something we need to keep on the radar because the markets have significantly changed in the last year for recycling where China has upped the quality of materials they’re accepting.”

Mr Shell said: “It’s worth noting quite a few of the producers of black plastic are cottoning onto the problems to recycling black plastic.

“A number of lightweight trays and supply products are changing.”

Council leader Huw David said: “We need to encourage supermarkets and food manufacturers to undertake that shift because there are alternatives which are recyclable.” Schools Kier is looking to introduce food waste and card recycling at certain schools in the county.

Currently 14 schools in the county use Kier commercial waste.

The majority of schools have their waste collected by other contractors.