Cardiff council plans fortnightly black bin collection

Trials of the kerbside food waste caddy have been "resoundingly positive", said the council.

A council is considering collecting black bins every fortnight as part of a new strategy to increase the amount of waste its recycles.

Cardiff's five-year plan would also see weekly food waste and green bag collections, and fortnightly garden waste pick-ups.

The council said it had to meet strict targets on waste sent to landfill.

"We believe this is the right way forward," said Cllr Margaret Jones, cabinet member for the environment.

The city's municipal waste management strategy for 2011 to 2016, which follows a household survey, will go to Cardiff's executive on Thursday for a decision.

The Welsh Assembly Government has decreed that by 2025, 70% of household waste must be recycled or composted and no more than 5% of waste should be sent to landfill.

Failure to comply could result in substantial fines.

The council said it had already made great strides in changing how waste is managed in the city.

It had introduced a new wheeled bin scheme, redeveloped household waste recycling centres across the city, invested in a materials reclamation facility and begun a food waste collection service.

Currently households in Cardiff have a weekly black bag and fortnightly green bag collection. Food waste is collected with garden waste but a trial is taking place in some areas where food waste is being collected in brown kerbside caddies instead.

The council's recent consultation on waste management and collection services showed that 92% of local people were satisfied with their waste collections services.

Some 69% wanted recycling to be collected weekly and the proportion of households now putting out black bins/bags fortnightly had already risen to 36%.

Trials of the kerbside caddy that contains food waste for collection, instead of bags, had been "resoundingly positive", said the council.

It added that research showed that fortnightly collections boost recycling rates significantly when coupled with weekly collections of food waste.

'Much higher'

Among the proposed changes is a hygiene nappy service, allowing special collections of nappies or incontinence pads from registered households, on the weeks that they would not be due to have a black bag collection.

Proposals to make the city's collection route more efficient would also mean a day of collection change for some areas.

Ms Jones said: "These changes are ultimately going to contribute towards a significant decrease in the amount of waste being sent to landfill by Cardiff.

"By diverting more we will create a more positive carbon benefit and help the environment.

"By helping people reduce the amount of waste they produce, encouraging them to recycle more of their waste and collecting food waste and green bags every week, we strongly believe that every household in Cardiff can help push our recycling figures up much higher."

Ms Jones added that the council had received "lots" of feedback from residents calling for a weekly green bag recycling collection and to have kerbside containers for food instead of bags.

The proposals will be brought back to the executive for further discussion later in the year, with any changes being introduced in September 2011.

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