Black bag waste to be collected every three weeks in Carmarthenshire from January

Carmarthenshire Council have announced that its changes to recycling and black bag collections will start from Monday 23 January 2023.

The changes mean that black bag waste will only be collected every three weeks, although blue bag recycling collections will move to weekly instead of every two weeks, and a new kerbside glass collection will be introduced.

The council says blue bags, for dry recycling, will now be collected every week, alongside the green bin for food waste.

Black bags household waste that cannot be recycled will be collected every 3 weeks. Households can put out up to 3 black bags every 3 weeks.

A new collection service for glass bottles and jars is also being introduced, which will be collected every 3 weeks. Glass collections, which start on 23 January 2023 will be on the same day as black bag collections. 

The council say that glass recycling and black bags will be collected by separate vehicles and may be at different times during the collection day.

Between Monday 21 November 2022 and Friday 20 January 2023, the Council say they will deliver 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 a year’s supply of blue bags and food waste liners for brown kitchen caddies to residents.

The council say they will be sending residents an information pack and collection calendar which will explain the changes to the collection service and show collection dates for 2023.

Carmarthenshire Council 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 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 23 January 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.”