Fines of £100 as council bin inspectors check every home's rubbish

Over the last eight years, black bags have been inspected by Blaenau Gwent council officials

Every single household in one council area has had their black bin waste inspected at some point over the past eight years, it has been revealed.

Blaenau Gwent enforcement officials have been out to more than 32,000 properties since 2017 in order to check black bin bags and monitor households for effective recycling, councillors were told.

The strategy was discussed during a scrutiny committee meeting focusing on the 2024-25 report on the local authority's waste and recycling performance.

The report showed the recycling rate went up from 66.18% in 2023-24, to 68.89% in 2024-25, but was still below the target of 70%.

"Over the last six to eight years every property in the county borough has had an enforcement visit, so that's over 32,000 homes," said Andrew Long, who manages the council's frontline enforcement services.

"The work involves taking a black bag out of someone's presented residual waste, photographing and logging it, and taking it to the Silent Valley HWRC (Household Waste and Recycling Centre) and examining it for any recyclable material it might contain.

"If people are identified as putting out recyclate in their residual waste then we take an enforcement process which involves serving a legal notice and FPN (fixed penalty notice), and prosecution if that isn't paid."

The fine can be £100, but Mr Long said waste wardens prioritised promoting the Keeping Up With the Joneses campaign, created to ensure every household in Blaenau Gwent recycles.

In the last eight years, black bags have been inspected by Blaenau Gwent council officials.

"There's a large body of work that the guys do proactively - in addition to the crews - notifying us where waste is being presented on collection days.

"We will subsequently monitor those addresses if there's repeat offending," he added.

"We're very proactive when it comes to targeting non-compliant properties."

Rassau and Garnlydan councillor Gareth Alban Davies also stressed the positive impact of waste wardens.

"A lady contacted me to say that she put out four black bags every three weeks and felt she was recycling everything," he said.

"A waste warden paid her a visit and vastly reduced how much black bag waste she puts out."

Additional reporting by Anaba Khan