No more plastic bag recycling

Residents in Newtown and throughout Montgomeryshire are being urged to recycle more to help the county council reach government targets, but also being told to no longer put plastic bags and some other "stretchy" plastic out for recycling.

Powys County Council has passed its target of recycling 52 per cent of waste in 2014/2015, but says it must reach 58 per cent.

At the same time it says it is struggling to find a market for certain plastics, including plastic film which includes stretchy plastic items such as carrier bags, magazine wrappers and bags and bubble wrap.

These will no longer be collected at the kerbside or at the recycling centres including Potters in Newtown.

Councillor John Powell, Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability, said: “We are absolutely delighted that we have met the challenging statutory recycling target set by Welsh Government. We would like to thank all our residents and traders that are using the recycling services for their efforts to date.

”However, the council needs to achieve a recycling rate of 58% in 2015/16 to meet  the next statutory  target and will need to improve its recycling rate further as there is still too much rubbish going to landfill.

“This is a very expensive option for council tax payers which can be avoided if Powys residents make an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle their rubbish wherever possible.

“We are urging residents and traders to stop and check if items can be recycled before placing them in with their refuse.”

He added: “We have also been reviewing the materials that we collect to ensure that we recover as high a quality recyclate as possible.

"The higher quality the material we collect the more income we will generate and less costs will be incurred during its recovery. One of the materials that causes great difficulties is plastic film.

“It is extremely difficult to find a market for, and also adds additional cost to the sorting process, for very little benefit.

"Therefore, from the 1st of June the council will no longer collect plastic film - stretchy plastic items such as carrier bags, magazine wrappers and bags and bubble wrap at the kerbside or at recycling centres.

Clean plastic bottles and tops, pots, tubs and food trays, food and drink cans, aluminium foil, metal bottle tops and jar lids and aerosol cans can still be recycled in your red plastic and cans box."

He said most other Welsh local authorities do not collect plastic film because of the problems with its recovery.

Plastic bags can be reused, used to line your rubbish bins at home, can be recycled at most supermarkets or placed in your wheeled bin.

Powys County Council has also recently been announced as one of the top performing Welsh councils in an independent report into the Recycling Carbon Index for the UK for 2013/14.

The report shows that the CO2 emissions savings from Powys County Council’s waste and recycling services have increased by 2% since 2012/13 from a figure of 102 to 104 in 2013/14.

If you want to know more about how to reduce, reuse and recycle please visit www.powys.gov.uk/recycle, our Facebook page ‘RecycleforPowys’ and our Twitter account ‘@RecycleforPowys’.