New waste arrangements in Bridgend following public consultation
Anew waste collection service that will incorporate weekly recycling collections, fortnightly refuse bag collections, a two-bag limit per household and the introduction of a new nappy collection scheme is set to be developed for Bridgend County Borough.
The Cabinet of Bridgend County Borough Council has agreed to develop the proposals following a comprehensive public consultation which asked local residents for their thoughts on a range of options designed to boost recycling and avoid financial penalties for missing strict new targets set by the Welsh Government.
Under the new requirements, the county borough will need to recycle 64% of all waste by 2019-20 and 70% by 2024-25. As the current kerbside system aims to recycle 58%, changes have to be made in order to hit the new targets.
Councillor Hywel Williams, Cabinet Member for Communities, said: “It’s important for people to realise that the kerbside collection arrangements cannot remain in their current format and change is absolutely necessary.
“What we have done is to work with Wrap Cymru on identifying what methods would enable the county borough to hit the new targets, and to ask local people for their views on those proposals so we can take account of this in any subsequent decisions.
“At 76%, the vast majority of responses to our public consultation on how waste should be collected in future made it clear that the preferred option is for a two-week, two-bag scheme, so we have listened to what local residents have said and have instructed council officers to start developing plans for a new waste contract based around this.
“The issue of wheelie bins was more problematic.
“While well-liked, the consultation showed that they are popular with younger residents, but not with older people or residents who don’t have access to a driveway or garden or who may live on a steeply inclined street in one of our valley areas.
“Instead, we have decided to look at issuing households with new coloured refuse bags in quantities that would be sufficient for covering the entire year. We will also look at ways of preventing abuse of the scheme and potential arrangements for larger households.
“One thing that proved to be extremely popular in the consultation feedback was a proposed collection scheme for nappies and other absorbent hygiene products.
“The majority of respondents were opposed to proposals for prohibiting black bags at civic amenity sites, so we will look at options that will allow black bag waste to continue to be accepted once recyclable items have been removed instead.
Councillor Williams added: “We’ll also be looking at issues such as assisted collections, collections at addresses with multiple occupants and more.”
The new scheme is planned to start in April 2017 and further information will be issued to Bridgend County Borough residents over the coming months.