Residents praised for helping county exceed recycling targe

RESIDENTS are being thanked for helping Carmarthenshire recycle 54% of its rubbish during 2012/13.

Provisional figures, released by Welsh Government, show that the county has exceeded Wales’ first statutory target of 52% – escaping any potential penalty.

The results from the WasteDataFlow system show the combined reuse, recycling and composting rates for all local authorities in Wales.

A total of nine local authorities failed to meet the target.

Carmarthenshire achieved a five per cent increase on the previous year.

Executive Board Member for Technical Services Cllr Colin Evans said: “I am absolutely delighted that here in Carmarthenshire we have not only met but exceeded the first statutory target of 52% and I cannot thank residents enough for all their efforts.

“The council could not have achieved this figure without the co-operation of householders in separating their waste to be recycled and composted.

“However, it is important we do not become complacent and we continue to keep up the good work as the targets are becoming more and more difficult. I would urge residents to keep recycling and composting their food as much as possible.”

A number of initiatives are underway across the county to help residents recycle including more recycling banks for small electrical items and community recycling advisors visiting householders to offer advice.

Announcing the figures, the Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Alun Davies praised local authorities and householders for their hard work and added: “. . . Wales continues to be the top recycling nation in the UK by some distance and we should all take pride in this.

“As a Government we will continue to work with all local authorities in Wales to ensure their recycling rates keep on getting better. This will help keep Wales on track to meet its second statutory target of 58% recycling in 2015/16 and will ultimately help us to reach our goal of becoming a zero waste nation by 2050.”