Flintshire: Three-weekly bin collections to avoid recycling fine

An area in Flintshire will trial fewer black bin collections

Some people in Flintshire will have their black bins collected every three weeks instead of every two.

The council cabinet approved the pilot after being at risk of a fine for failing to hit 70% recycling targets set out by the Welsh government.

Details about where it will be trialled and the resources required to run it have not yet been ironed out.

Council leader Ian Roberts supported the idea and confirmed there will be no reduction in council tax.

"You may have seen some of the comments on social media asking 'are we going to get a reduction if we're getting a reduction in service' - well no, because there is a potential reduction in service because recycling isn't being done," he said.

"It certainly isn't being done as it was at one point when we were doing particularly well so that possible infraction fine this year will become a considerable sum of money."

• Wales remains top UK recycler for over 10 years

• Walkers pick up 80 dog poos in 90 minutes in town

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, members of the cabinet felt they had little choice but to implement the recommendation from the environment scrutiny committee last week, along with providing more education and communication to residents.

The lead member for the council's Streetscene service Dave Hughes said recycling targets would never be achieved by "carrying on the way we were going" and running the pilot in an area with high tonnages could help achieve that.

Concerns were raised about the logistical challenge, with one round running on a three-weekly cycle, with other areas having their bins collected fortnightly.

But chief officer for Streetscene Katie Wilby said officers were looking at how that could be managed, adding: "It would be relative.

"We would have to take a view whether recycling had increased on all of our rounds and has residual waste decreased on all of the rounds."