Thousands more city homes may get new black bins

THOUSANDS more Cardiff homes could get new black bins, and waste issues such as fly-tipping could be reported via an app under plans being considered by Cardiff council.

The council could also introduce a new separate collection service for glass, and waste collections may also be moved to evenings, weekends and bank holidays under changes which could come into force this year.

About 3,000 homes in Cardiff which don’t already have black bins could get them under the council’s recycling strategy for the next three years which is currently being drafted.

New containers for glass would be given to 17,000 homes in the capital under a trial which could spread citywide.

An app is being developed to allow Cardiff residents to report issues such as missed collections or fly-tipping, and to arrange collections of green waste during the winter.

“Education stations” would be set up at household waste recycling centres across the city to encourage people to recycle more, and the council is looking at possible locations for a new tip.

The plans, which would have to be approved by Cardiff council’s cabinet, come as the city needs to recycle a further 17,000 tonnes of its waste by 2025 to meet Welsh Government targets.

Michael Michael, the council’s cabinet member for clean streets and recycling, said: “Cardiff does have a good story to tell. We have the best recycling rate of all of the UK’s core cities and we have a chance to become one of the leading cities in the world for recycling.

“Everyone in the city should be proud of the efforts they make to recycle and I want to thank every resident that does their bit to make Cardiff a greener city.”

Cardiff currently recycles 60% of its waste, but it has been told by the Welsh Government to increase this rate to 64% by 2020 and 70% by 2025.

Every tonne missed from target would cost the council £200 in fines, so if recycling rates stay at the same level by 2025 the council could face a fine of up to £10m.

Currently, glass in Cardiff is collected in green bags and mixed with other recyclable materials. It costs the council £500,000 a year to process the glass and crush it for use in road building. But the council wants to reverse that cost by collecting the glass separately and then selling it on.

The trial will see residents given different containers to store their glass so the council can decide which works best. If it proves successful, it could be rolled out to other areas in the city.

Consultations will also be held with councillors about how to introduce new wheelie bins for the thousands of properties which use plastic bags for their general waste. The bins would be offered to properties with frontages, Cllr Michael said.

“Providing bags instead of bins to residents costs the council around £500,000 more a year,” he said. “So moving to wheeled bins will help deliver savings and switching to bins over bags also helps the city when it comes to litter on our streets.

“Bags are often ripped open by animals and birds which scatter waste across our roads, and bins rather than bags also improves safety for our staff.

“We are looking at the criteria for the rollout of wheeled bins. That criteria will include properties having space within their boundaries, bins are located at ground level, and at least 80% of the properties in the street are suitable.”

Cardiff council will hold discussions with its workforce and trade unions about the possibility of running waste collections during evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

The council is also looking to spend up to £7m to renew its fleet of waste collection lorries – and hopes to get vehicles with energy efficiency ratings of Euro 6 at least.

Staff at household waste recycling centres would set up education stations to help people recycle as much as they can from their general waste.

Up to 80% of material dumped in general waste skips can be recycled, the council has said.

Cllr Michael said Cardiff residents affected by the plans should start to see changes to waste collections either in the summer or autumn this year.

He said: “We’re serious about hitting these targets. We’re already the best city in the UK, now we want to hit European and World levels.”

The council, which has two recycling centres at Lamby Way and Bessemer Road, has put £3m into its 2018-19 budget towards a new household waste recycling centre in the north of the city and a full business case and site appraisal will take place for that once a suitable site has been identified.

The recycling strategy sets out that an additional 19,500 tonnes of waste in Cardiff could be recycled.

This includes 5,000 additional tonnes from kerbside collections, up to 1,000 tonnes from commercial operations, a further 9,000 tonnes from HWRCs, 500 tonnes from bulky collections and fly-tipping, 1,000 tonnes through recycling new products and a further 3,000 tonnes through reusing materials without the need for reprocessing.

The recycling strategy will be put before the council’s cabinet in May, and if it is passed consultations will be held in June.