Our recycling rate doubles in a decade

Welshpool recycling rates have doubled in a decade, providing welcome news to the county council who have introduced strict new measures over the past two years.

Figures released by the Welsh Government show that Powys exceeded the 2015/16 statutory recycling target by 1% with over 59% of waste recycled, up 7% on the previous year.

The statistics show the average combined reuse, recycling and composting rate across Wales’ 22 local authorities was 60%, double the amount that was being recycled just a decade ago.

Cllr John Powell, Cabinet Member for Waste and Recycling, added that the recent nerw measure like general collections now every three weeks have pushed the rates even hire of late.

“Our latest recycling figures show that the county recycled more than 4,000 tonnes of material in August, an impressive 66% of all material,” he said.

“We can’t be complacent, we anticipate the overall rate for 2016/17 will settle to around 62%, due to seasonal variations in garden waste. This is still comfortably above our target for the year but the target for 2019/20 is 64% so there is work to do.

“I would like to thank householders for recycling efficiently by keeping plastic bags and film out of their red kerbside recycling box. The quality of the plastic material collected has improved dramatically and we are now generating an income from the material when previously it cost us to dispose of it.”