THOUSANDS have signed two petitions against the move from black bin collections to black bag collections in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT).
On Monday, December 9, RCT’s overview and scrutiny committee will consider two petitions relating to the recent changes to how refuse is collected across the county borough.
The petitions are entitled “Oppose the Shift from Plastic Bins to Plastic Bags in Rhondda Cynon Taff” which has 9,270 signatures and “Demand RCT Council to Keep Black Refuse Bins Instead of Replacing with Bags” which has 2,502 signatures.
In July, the council’s cabinet approved a recommendation to standardise the collection method of residual household waste in the Cynon and Taf areas, in line with the method in the Rhondda, by moving from wheelie bin collections to kerbside collections of black bags only.
As part of this change, residents would have the option to keep their wheelie bins to store residual waste bags, with a maximum of three black bags to be placed out for collection at the kerbside every three weeks, as per the current allowance.
A service update report which will go before the committee said that the rationale for standardising domestic refuse collections was to “enhance the council’s commitment to protecting the local environment and streetscape, meeting Welsh Government statutory recycling targets and helping to remove obstructions to help keep footways clear for the benefit of all, whilst provide residents with a more efficient service.”
The decision was called-in and referred to the overview and scrutiny committee which decided not to refer the matter back to cabinet.
The report said that the implementation of the change has gone well, with feedback from waste collection crews, the environmental awareness team and streetcare cleansing teams indicating that the streets have far fewer obstructions and that collection rounds are more efficient with the number of bins tagged reducing cycle after cycle and more than 97% of residents complying with the new arrangements.
Council data shows that since September 30, the bins to bags change has had a “very positive effect” with black bag waste reduced by 34%, dry mixed recycling increased by 8%, food waste recycling increased by 26%. and nappy recycling increased by 12%.
The report also said that over recent months, since cabinet approved the standardisation of refuse collections across RCT, teams have completed more than 200,000 household refuse collections with only 98 reports of missed collections and they have delivered to over 13,000 residents that have signed up for recycling services.
This has included 8,000 food waste bins, 3,000 green waste sacks and 2,630 nappy recycling packs.
The report said all of this means, thanks to the efforts of local residents and frontline council staff, that RCT is now firmly on course to exceed the Welsh Government 70% recycling target by March 2025.
