Call for more residents to recycle in Swansea

Swansea Council is calling on households to do their bit in areas where recycling participation is low.

It follows a recent campaign in which recycling and fly-tipping officers visited parts of Townhill and collected black bags which had been abandoned on the streets.

Gomer Road, Gwylfa Road, Geiriol Road and Ceri Road had all been identified as hotspots for fly-tipping, which includes abandoned black refuse sacks on the streets.

An on-site search of many of the bags highlighted that more than 75% of the waste in the black bags could be recycled. And that’s exactly what council officers did.

David Hopkins, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transportation, accompanied recycling officers on the initiative and helped filter out recycling from the bags which were collected.

Cllr Hopkins said: “It was a bit of an eye-opener to see the amount of recyclable waste some residents are still putting in black bags.

“We have developed a wide range of kerbside collection schemes so that residents can recycle their household waste and avoid putting it in black bags.

“We spend more than £4 million each year to dump household waste in landfill and we need to reduce these costs.”

Swansea Council, along with other councils in Wales, needs to achieve a recycling rate of 58% by April this year or risk facing costly fines. The next target then increases to 62% by 2020.

The council launched its ‘Keep it to 3’ black bag scheme in 2014, which has helped to boost the city’s recycling rate to just over 56%.

Cllr Hopkins added: “Many households are assisting the council to recycle and I’m hopeful we can meet the next government recycling target which is 58%. But we need more households to get on board and recycle. There’s no excuse for simply putting everything in black bags.”