Keep food scraps out of black bags call to residents

THOUSANDS of homes are being targeted in Swansea in a bid to boost food recycling in the city.

Swansea Council is launching the ‘Keep it out’ campaign to encourage residents to avoid putting leftover food in black bag waste and use the kerbside food recycling service instead.

Recycling officers in the Council are now visiting households in the city where the take-up of the food waste recycling can be improved.

For many years, residents in Swansea have been able to throw away leftover food using a separate collection where food scraps are stored in a special green food caddy and collected every week by the recycling crews.

Cllr Mark Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment & Transportation, said: “Lots of households are already doing the right thing and recycling food waste.

“We want to make sure that others who are not currently using the service are aware of the benefits of disposing of food waste properly and show them how easy it is to use.

“Our recycling team will be calling to areas where we know there is a low take up rate so we can talk to residents and get them on board.”

A recent analysis carried out on a tonne of household black bag waste highlighted that 26% of the waste was leftover food.

Welsh councils also need to achieve a recycling rate of 58% by April 2016. In Swansea, the current recycling rate is 56.54%.

Cllr Thomas added: “Our recycling rate is going up steadily and we have had a significant increase after introducing the Keep it to 3 scheme. Residents are thinking more about what they put in black bags and what they can keep out.”