Councillors told of recycling success

APPROXIMATELY 92 per cent of Carmarthenshire homes are now receiving a weekly kerbside recycling collection.

The council’s Environment Scrutiny Committee was told that in total 75,500 households benefit from recycling helping to achieve a recycling/composting rate of more than 45 per cent.

Head of street scene David Hughes told members that a lot of work was now underway to extend the recycling service to the remaining households across the county.

He said: “W have run a trial from our Glanamam depot using starch bags for the collection of food waste in hard-to-reach areas and the results have been very positive. We now hope to roll this out to all the remaining households in Carmarthenshire over the next 12 months.”

He also told councillors that recycling carpets and mattresses from the Household Waste Recycling Centres was also helping to divert a significant amount from landfill – estimated at 2,000 tonnes over the next 12 months.

“We are now looking at what other materials from our HWRCs that we can divert from landfill by recycling,” he added.

Councillor Peter Cooper said he was delighted that after making requests recycling banks had been provided in four villages in his ward.

Local members were again reminded to come forward with any suggestions for glass banks in their areas. Since 2008, there has been a 54% increase in the number of banks in the county.

Councillor Keith Davies asked about the new street litter bins that were being installed. He was told that in total 30 bins for recycling paper, plastic bottles and cans had been purchased to put in towns across the county.

Carmarthenshire must achieve a 52 per cent recycling/composting rate by 2012/13 and there are also strict targets on how much waste can be landfilled. Estimated figures show that Carmarthenshire should be approximately 31% under its landfill allowance for 2010/11.