Recycling challenge to avoid bin collection change

Recycle more to avoid less frequent waste collections, residents in Flintshire are being challenged.

Flintshire council has given a four-month reprieve on a plan to trial three-weekly waste collections in a bid to improve recycling rates.

The local authority is threatened with a £670,000 Welsh government fine for missing targets last year.

However, it has previously hit required rates, and councillors decided to give residents a chance to do so again.

The council will publish monthly tonnage amounts of recycling and waste over the period to show how well residents are complying.

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The Welsh government target is now 70% recycling. Flintshire has slid back to 60% but at one point was the third-best county in Wales, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Katie Wilby, chief officer for the Streetscene department, said: "There has to be a significant improvement to recycling figures otherwise we will have no option but to restrict the amount of residual waste collected at the kerbside.

"It is very much down to the residents of Flintshire to recycle as much as possible and achieve those targets."

Neighbouring county Denbighshire has just announced a plan to move to four-weekly refuse collections, starting in March 2024.