Massive reduction in black bags disposed of in Swansea

RESIDENTS in Swansea have thrown away 6,000 tonnes less black bag waste in a year since the introducon of a three-bag limit for households.

For anyone that visited the Wales National Airshow during the weekend, that’s the equivalent weight of 74 Vulcan Bombers or 400 Chinook helicopters.

Swansea Council launched the ‘Keep it to 3’ initiative in April 2014, requiring all households in the city to limit the amount of black bags put out for collection to three during a pink collection week.

The latest statistics highlight that residents disposed of 16,738 tonnes of black bags between April 2014 and March 2015. The previous year residents put out a total of 22,774 black bags.

A city-wide campaign was launched in the run up to the introduction of the limits in which recycling officers in the council knocked the doors of thousands of homes, informing residents of the availability of a wide range of kerbside recycling services.

A media campaign also alerted residents to the changes and the need to reduce the amount of black bag waste the council disposes of at landfill.

Mark Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment & Transportation, said: “Residents should be congratulated for their efforts to help the council meet important government targets linked to waste disposal.

“We know that many residents were already recycling long before the black bag limits were introduced. The changes ensured that households not yet recycling did their bit.

“A lot of hard work has been put in by the council to develop the recycling services and ensure that residents know what is available to them.”

Council’s in Wales need to achieve a recycling rate of 58% by 2016. In Swansea the recycling rate for 2013/14 was 53.3% and this increased to 56.54% following the introduction of the limit.

Cllr Thomas added: “It’s vital that residents keep up the good work and even more households recycle. We still need to improve on the current performance so we meet next year’s target of 58%.”