Recycling row: Council won’t back down

Powys County Council has made its position clear that they won’t back down on a recycling row that has seen residents launch a petition.

Over the past week, boxes have been left on the kerbside if they contained items that are no longer on the council’s collection list.

The council says it has been warning householders for months, but the changes have caught them out and left the authority facing a recycling rebellion.

But despite the outrage, and a petition raising more than 1,100 signatures, the council says it won’t budge and boxes will continue to be left.

Here, we carry the council’s response in full:

Cllr John Powell, Cabinet Member for Waste and Recycling, said: “This material has been causing us problems for some time now as there are very few processors who want it. As a result we have had to pay a higher gate fee with this material then being removed for either landfill or incineration. No other authority in Wales that collects recycling in boxes at the kerbside (as per the Welsh Government’s preferred method) accepts plastic film.

“We have been advising the public for several months that we will not be taking this material. We did supply a leaflet to all households when we rolled out the three weekly residual waste collections in November which clearly stated what could and couldn’t be put in the red box for recycling. The message has also been on our website and social media. It is very difficult to get the message out to everyone and this is why we do need to leave the material that we cannot collect with the householder along with a leaflet explaining why.

“We appreciate that this is a change for residents but are confident that they will very quickly learn what they can put out for recycling. The experience of leaving plastic film with the householder over the last few weeks has shown this to be the case.

“We will of course continue to communicate the message wherever we can. There is a question and answer section on our website (www.powys.gov.uk) along with a link to a short video which clearly shows what can and can’t be put into the red box.”