Cardiff Council is set to expand the rollout of a split recycling scheme across the city over the next two years, despite it proving unpopular with residents in areas where the scheme was been trialled. Earlier this year, 4,000 homes in Llandaff, Radyr, Pentwyn, and Trowbridge took part in the six-month pilot.
The trial across the four wards saw recyclables separated by residents and placed into three reusable specific containers for collection, instead of being put all together in single-use green plastic bags. Separating recycling is seen as key to improving the city’s recycling rate which is currently the worst in Wales although better than other major British cities.
Residents had to place bottles and jars in a blue caddy, paper and cardboard in a blue 90L sack, and plastic and metal or tin containers in a red 90L sack. The sacks also have a lid that is secured by Velcro. Households taking part in the pilot were sent a letter with details of a survey and were asked to give their views on the scheme.
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A total of 363 responses were received and the results of the survey were published in a report in March this year. Overall, about 37% of respondents were satisfied with the new service, while about 55% felt dissatisfied. Three in ten respondents (about 30%) felt "very dissatisfied".
In a statement to WalesOnline, the council said that although feedback from residents on the trials "wasn't favourable", the new scheme had reduced the contamination rate - which is when items that are put out for recycling, but cannot be recycled - from 30% to 6% in the areas that took part.
Those who were dissatisfied with the scheme overall were asked to elaborate on their view, with storage revealed as the biggest concern. About three quarters of respondents said they had nowhere to store the sacks or caddy provided for the pilot.
Meanwhile, about 61% said they preferred to use the normal green bags for all dry recycling, while 40% said they struggled to use the new containers due to a protected characteristic such as age or disability. Other complaints were that it was "too much effort" (40% of respondents) or "too confusing" (about 23%).
The survey also allowed people to leave comments elaborating on their dissatisfaction, which included concerns about the quality and design of the sacks, health and safety issues, a lack of specialist waste vehicles, and awkwardness with usage and storage.
The report gives examples from the 53 comments that were received. "The recycling bags are poor quality, the weight used is insufficient to stop getting blowed down the road and the Velcro is difficult to use," said one. Another said: "They blow around everywhere in bad weather, with everything spilling out, and smell of cat’s urine when you bring them in."
The council said in a statement to WalesOnline that the purpose of the trial was to "test different products", including whether the reusable bags are adequate, and this data will be used by the council, as it rolls out the scheme across the city.
"It is utterly stupid and ridiculous that the council makes the householder go through the separation of various dry waste products and then see the incredible sight of the bin-men dumping it all in the same truck!!" said another comment. However, the council has said that they will procure new purpose-built vehicles with separate compartments for the different recyclable items.
A fourth said: "My mother is 96, lives on her own and is also part of this trial. She has always recycled but finds this separation beyond her."
Someone else wrote: "Too many bags/bins to carry down our long driveway - we now have six recycling bins with nowhere to put them in the house/garden - where are we supposed to store six bins? We are able to carry all six of the recycling bins now, but what about when we get older?"
Further analysis of the survey results later on in the report revealed just a quarter of respondents felt the blue sack was suitable for paper and cardboard packaging.
"The sacks are not waterproof so cannot be stored outside," complained one comment, adding: "The sack is not marked with house number so difficult to retrieve correctly when the bags have blown around the street."
As part of Cardiff Council's Recycling Strategy 2022-2025 - which was approved by its cabinet on September 28 - the rollout of the split recycling scheme will be expanded to more parts of the city. You can read about the full strategy here.
Other proposals in the ambitious strategy include increasing the number of items eligible for kerbside recycling, trialling new approaches to recycling in flats and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), and trialling changing non-recyclable waste collections to once every three weeks instead of once every two weeks.
The last proposal in particular has sparked conversation, with leader of the opposition at Cardiff Council, Cllr Adrian Robson, saying he had "deep concerns" about it. Meanwhile, the split recycling survey results also revealed that 67% of respondents said they filled their black bin or used their full allowance of red striped bags for non-recyclable waste every fortnightly collection.
Councillor Joe Carter representing the Pentwyn ward, where 1,000 houses took part in the pilot, said: "It is disappointing that the council has completely ignored the public consultation and proceeded to roll out the split recycling system anyways
"Residents in the trial areas, which included Llanedeyrn, were clear that they didn’t support the new system, they felt the sacks were poorly designed and they struggled to store them. The sacks are bulky and if you don’t have a shed or a garage to put them in, they need to stay outside and will get wet leaving soggy recycling.
"When it is windy items fall out of the sacks leaving litter on the road. When they are emptied, the sacks are very light and blow onto the road, get mixed up and sometimes lost.
"The consultation also showed that the vast majority of people said their black bins were full after two weeks. If the council plough ahead with collections every three weeks then residents are not going to have enough space for their rubbish
"The council have showed contempt for my community, ignored our views and now they are rolling out this flawed system across the whole city. They should have listened."
A Cardiff Council Spokesperson said: "Kerbside sort recycling, which is the method recently trialled in four wards in the city, will be rolled out city-wide over the next two years, as it is the Welsh Government’s preferred method of collecting recycling from residents’ homes.
"This is clearly documented in their Towards Zero Waste Strategy, which sets out the blueprint on how local authorities should recycle waste and has in fact made Wales was one of the best recycling nations in the world.
"Kerbside sort is used by nearly every local authority in Wales, as the quality of the recycling collected from residents’ homes is significantly better than using the comingled method of collection with green bags.
"The contamination rate with the kerbside sort method - which are items that are put out for recycling, but cannot be recycled - has decreased from 30% to 6% through the trials in Cardiff.
"Although the feedback from residents on the trials wasn’t favourable, it is understandable, as the scheme is different and requires residents to separate their dry recycling into three containers, rather than one. What is encouraging is that 90% of properties took part in the trial areas and all these residents have helped the council to significantly reduce the contamination rate in these areas.
"By using reusable sacks, the council is also moving away from using single use plastics, as 24 million green bags will no longer be used for waste collections in the city.
"The purpose of the trials was to test different products, to see if the reusable bags are adequate and the best way to collect the waste with the vehicles available. This data will be used by the council, as we roll out the scheme to other wards in the city.
"The vehicles that were available and used in the initial trial were older vehicles which proved unreliable and caused operational difficulties.
"New purpose-built vehicles will be procured by the council, with separate compartments to store the different recyclable items, so they are separated at source rather than through a secondary sorting process.
"The council will be expanding the scheme slowly, so that residents are informed about the changes, with staff working on-street to assist with any questions residents may have.
“By residents reducing, reusing and recycling and composting as much of their waste as possible, the city’s recycling rate will increase, so as a city, we can continue to reduce our carbon footprint and strive towards the challenging recycling targets that have been set by Welsh Government.”
Cllr Caro Wild, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, said: "The council has been very clear about the need for bold and urgent action on climate change, and we have a strong mandate from the people of Cardiff to take action. Improving how we recycle and reducing the amount of materials we are all responsible for is one of the main things cities around the world are now doing.
"Sadly, it would seem that despite opposition parties calling for us to take action on climate change, they cannot resist any opportunity to stoke controversy."
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