Changes to recycling and black bag collections from next week

Carmarthenshire County Council is making changes to its recycling and black bag collections, making it easier for you, our residents, to recycle more from home.

These changes come into effect the week beginning Monday 23 January 2023.

Blue bags, for dry recycling, will now be collected every week, alongside the green bin for your food waste.

We will collect your black bags, for your remaining household waste that cannot be recycled, every 3 weeks. You may put out up to 3 black bags every 3 weeks.

Residents have received an information pack and collection calendar, which will explain the changes to the collection service and clearly show their collection dates for 2023.

Carmarthenshire County Council is also introducing a new collection service for glass bottles and jars, which will be collected every 3 weeks. Your collection day will be on the same day as your black bag collections.  Glass collections will start on 23 January 2023.

It is important to note that glass recycling and black bags will be collected by separate vehicles and may be at different times during the collection day. The Council has delivered a black box to homes across the county to hold glass bottles and jars for collection.

Alongside the new black boxes for glass recycling, the Council will also deliver to residents a year’s supply of blue bags and food waste liners for brown kitchen caddies.

If you have more blue bags than you need, please give them to family or friends that might need a further supply, or return them to one of our Hwb centres at Llanelli, Ammanford or Carmarthen.

Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste and Infrastructure Services, Cllr. Edward Thomas said:

“For 2021/22, we as a local authority recycled 62% of the waste collected from our residents. However, we can and must recycle more to meet, and indeed surpass, the statutory recycling target rate of 64% that has been set by the Welsh Government.

“From next week, Monday 23 January 2023, we will start collecting blue bags, for dry recycling, every week, alongside the green bin for your food waste. Black bags will now be collected every three weeks and you may put out up to 3 black bags every 3 weeks.

“We will also start our glass collection service on this date and this will be collected from your home on the same day as your black bin bag, every 3 weeks.

“People may ask why we have changed how often we collect their black bags.

“This is because, on average, almost half of the contents put in black bags are recyclable, therefore there is still a lot more that we can do to reduce our waste.

“By collecting your blue bags more often, and by collecting even more items that can be recycled, such as glass, hygiene and nappy waste, you’ll have less non-recyclable waste to put out to be collected.

“This latest step in increasing our capacity to recycle and reducing what we waste is a collective effort between our Waste and Recycling Team and you, the people of Carmarthenshire. I would like to say thank you; your recycling is making a big difference in Carmarthenshire. Thank you for continuing to do the right thing and for doing your bit for the environment, by sorting your waste and recycling what you can.”

For further information about the changes to waste and recycling collection or if you wish to sign up for our free hygiene and nappy waste collections, please visit the Council’s website.

Please remember to place your recycling and black bags at your collection point before 6am on your collection days.

For further information about these changes, or to sign up to receive email or text message reminders for your collection days, please visit Carmarthenshire County Council website or call us on 01267 234567 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 6pm).