The council says it has developed a new draft waste strategy which is planned for adoption later in 2024 and will set out the Council’s plans to increase recycling between 2025 and 2030.
To help the council agree and adopt the new waste strategy, a public consultation is set to take place, seeking the views of residents about the new plans.
Part of the strategy will look at proposals to introduce even more materials that residents can recycle and keep out of black bags – including textiles, plastic film and electrical items.
Options have also been considered as part of the new plan for the future collection of black bag waste.
The council says it has ruled out switching to collecting black bag waste every three weeks – something many councils in Wales have already done.
The council says its preferred option is to consider maintaining fortnightly black bag collections while reducing the number of black bags from three to two.
Surveys undertaken have shown that the majority of households in Swansea already put out two bags or less every fortnight.
Restrictions on black waste were first introduced in the city in 2014, limiting households to three bags each fortnight. Exemptions to the limit were also introduced to assist with families who are disposing of non-recyclable waste such as nappies and animal waste (cat litter).
Cyril Anderson, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Community, said: “Swansea is already doing really well on recycling, but like all areas we are likely to face higher recycling targets so we need to help householders to recycle more of their waste.
“We’ve looked at what other councils do and some collect black bags every three weeks and some only collect two black bags.
“The majority of households in Swansea don’t put out more than two black bags, so we think this is the better option as most of us are doing this anyway.
“And by increasing the range of materials that can be recycled this will help to reduce what needs to go in black bags which will help households reduce their black bag waste.
“We also believe most residents would still want a black bag collection every fortnight so we have made this our preferred option.”
(Lead image: Swansea Council)
