Three week bin collections approved

From Monday, November 2, you will only have your rubbish collected every three weeks, it was confirmed last night.

In a move that will save the tax payer £480,000 a year and hopefully encourage more recycling, Powys County Council has approved a proposal that will still see food waste and recycling collections continue to be collected on weekly.

Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, Councillor John Powell said: “The service is facing the twin pressures of finding significant financial savings as part of the council’s overall budget response and meeting increasing and very challenging recycling targets set by the Welsh Government with severe financial penalties if we fail.

“Between 2010 and this year the council rolled out a new kerbside collection service with residents provided with recycling boxes for glass, plastic and cans and paper and card, a special caddy for food waste – all of which are collected weekly.

“Analysis of the rubbish collected was carried out on behalf of the Welsh Government for all authorities during July and August 2015. For Powys, this showed that 32.81% of material in the wheeled bin or purple sacks could actually be recycled at the kerbside. The majority of this is food waste (21.83%) with the remainder being glass, paper and card, plastic and cans.  

“Moving to a three weekly rubbish collection system will deliver savings and ensure that even more of our waste is recycled. There is a long way to go to meet the Welsh Government’s targets and there will be even tougher limits in years to come. With residents support we can meet both our budget and recycling targets.”

Householders will receive an information pack detailing the changes this month.