Vale of Glamorgan residents 'hiding soiled nappies in recycling'

People were hiding used nappies in plastic bags and disposing of them in recyclable waste, the council says

A council has banned residents from disposing of plastic bags in recycling after it said people were using them to hide food waste and soiled nappies.

Vale of Glamorgan council said up to a third of its recyclable waste was being lost to contamination.

It restricted black bag collections to two bags per household last year.

The council said entire lorry loads of recycling had been rejected at the processing centre due to the contamination of the waste.

Residents were informed of the changes by letter, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"Although the restriction of black bags has been very successful, we have seen an increase in contaminated recycling with food, nappies and textiles being hidden within single-use plastic bags, which has resulted in a high volume of our recycling being rejected," the council's operational manager for neighbourhood services Colin Smith said.

Deputy leader Lis Burnett said the council was "delighted at the immediate uptake" of the changes.

The council said the vast majority of its residents were "committed recyclers" and had helped the county become one of the top areas in Wales for recycling rates.

"Vale residents have made a tremendous effort to achieve such a high rate of recycling but unfortunately a minority are ignoring the guidelines and it's causing a major problem," Ms Burnett said.

"Urgent action is needed and we are delighted at the immediate uptake of the changes by many residents."

She added the changes would also help reduce the amount of single-use plastic waste produced.