Free collection service for nappies

PARENTS in Carmarthenshire will soon be able to recycle their children’s nappies.

Carmarthenshire County Council is launching a free fortnightly collection service for parents to recycle their nappies instead of putting them in with their black bag waste.

Parents will be able to sign up for the purple bags this spring.

Last year the council recycled 66% of its waste. However, more needs to be done if it is to meet the Welsh Government’s 70% recycling target by 2025.

As a result, nappy recycling is just the first of a number of changes the council is making to its waste services over the next two years.

Later this year, in the autumn, the council will start collecting glass every three weeks for the majority of households, and blue bags will be collected weekly instead of fortnightly.

The increase in recycling provision will see black bags collected every three weeks instead.

In 2024, weekly collections of glass, paper, cardboard, cans and plastic will be introduced, along with textiles and batteries and small household appliances.

Councillor Hazel Evans, cabinet member for the environment, said: “Families with young children can find themselves producing more black bags if their children are in nappies, so our new nappy recycling collections will give parents an alternative and better option to help us divert nappy waste from landfill.

“Figures show that almost half (46%) of the contents of black bags are recyclable, so there is still a lot more we can do to reduce our waste.

“We have listened to what our residents want, and following the nappy collections in the spring, we will start collecting glass in the autumn, along with weekly blue bag collections. Then from 2024 we will be introducing more changes so that we can recycle even more and work towards achieving a 70% recycling rate by 2025.”