Monmouthshire County Council has announced that it will no longer be requiring residents to use clear bin bags under its plans to overhaul the waste collection service, but instead will be providing residents with bags that have a ‘silver finish’, after an online petition calling on the council to scrap the scheme (labelled as an ‘invasion of privacy’) collected over 900 signatures.

The council had initially announced that from 1 July, householders would have to switch from using black bin bags to hold their resdual waste to clear bags, and would only be allowed to put out two bags of rubbish for collection each fortnight (down from the average three or four), in the hopes of boosting the area’s recycling rate.

It was hoped that by using transparent bags, refuse collectors could identify whether householders were repeatedly putting recyclable materials in their rubbish and notify waste-awareness officers, who would contact the household to discuss improving their recycling rate.

Public opposition

However, after residents took to Monmouthshire County Council's blog and social media to voice concerns that bin men would be “snooping” on them and that private waste – such as sanitary towels and condoms – would be on show, the council has now tweaked its plans, so that residents will be receiving transparent bags with a ‘silver finish’.

Reportedly, these bags will not be as see-through as clear bags but will still allow staff to check what is inside.

Writing on its blog on 28 March – just one week after announcing plans to introduce clear bin bags – the council said that it ‘understand[s] the concerns people have voiced about privacy’, so it will now ‘provide bags of a similar grade and opacity to the red and purple recycling bags but without any colour pigment (the bags appear silver in finish without colour pigmentation)’.

The blog went on to say that those ‘still concerned’ about privacy can ‘wrap up items so they remain unseen’.

Further, the council said that ‘rubbish doesn’t need to be loose in the bags’ and that people who ‘already use bin liners and put these in black bags’ can continue to do so.

The council went on to reassure residents about the changes, stating: ‘We are asking residents to please help us recycle more but we do understand that these kind of changes can be frustrating to get used to.

‘We promise we will do all we can to make the changes as smooth as possible and we will help as much as we can with information and assistance while we all get used to the adjustments to the service.’

The council hopes that the changes will reduce the amount of recyclable material thrown away (currently, around 70 per cent of waste is recyclable), improve collection efficiency, avoid job cuts and prevent 6,000 tonnes of waste from being sent to landfill, thereby saving the council £600,000 a year in landfill costs and taxes.

Cardiff looking to introduce clear refuse bags

The public outcry to the clear plastic bags initiative comes ahead of similar plans set to be implemented by Cardiff City Council.

Cardiff Council is currently “in the early stages” of planning to implement clear plastic refuse bags in a bid to increase the city’s recycling levels from 52 per cent to 58 per cent by 2015.

A spokesperson for the council told Resource that a Green Paper outlining the proposed changes would be published in 'the summer' and they would 'not be affected' by Monmouthshire’s revised plans.

Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Ashley Govier continued: “This administration has a duty to explore all ways of improving recycling rates in Cardiff and the cabinet will be issuing a Green Paper in the summer to look at ways in which we can continue as one of the leading authorities to have met the targets set by Welsh Government. While our recycling rates now exceed 52 per cent we cannot stand still and it is clear we have work to do before further improvements can be achieved.

"Taking a walk around many of our communities you will see that some people are not getting the message about how to present their waste and there will be, for example, food waste put in black bags when there is absolutely no excuse for this. The council has invested heavily in ensuring every resident can recycle the majority of their everyday waste and we have to take whatever measures necessary to drive the message home."

Adding that despite a "great deal" of people making "excellent efforts" in recycling, Govier said it is "vital that everyone changes their behaviour in order for the city to meet its targets.”

However, Emma Carr, Deputy Director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said the council should “stop and take notice of the other councils in Wales that have stopped and listened to the audible concerns about the use of clear bags and have scrapped their plans to use them”.

Read more about Monmouth’s waste collection changes.