Cardiff Council is seeking the views of the general public regarding its future provision of waste collection services at the same time as working in partnership with the Welsh Government ‘to design a service that can meet expected demands for waste minimisation, reuse, recycling and diversion from landfill for the next 25 years’.

In 2010, the Welsh Government set out its vision for zero waste by 2050. This included a series of statutory recycling targets for local authorities across Wales:

• 52 per cent by 2012/13
• 58 per cent by 2015/16
• 64 per cent by 2019/20
• 70 per cent by 2024/25

While Cardiff Council achieved 52 per cent recycling in 2012/13, thus avoiding a possible fine and ranking 13th of 22 councils across Wales, further improvements are needed for the 70 per cent recycling target to become a realistic prospect.

Cost Savings

The focus on recycling comes at a difficult time for Cardiff Council. The Labour administration is required to make £125 million savings over the next three years whilst remaining committed to its four strategic priorities:

• to encourage economic development, creating jobs and training opportunities;
• to improve education;
• to protect the vulnerable; and
• to serve the needs of its customers.

At the same time, there is ambiguity about the cost implications of delivering new waste collection services to Cardiff residents. It is hoped Cardiff’s work with the Welsh Government will provide ‘good data on the cost of providing services, the likely recycling performance’ and the sustainability of future services

The Welsh Government has already outlined its preferred blueprint option for councils to follow:

• fortnightly general waste collections;
• weekly food waste collections;
• fortnightly paid-for green waste collections; and
• weekly kerbside-sort recycling collections.

Before setting out its own strategy, however, Cardiff Council will use an online survey to seek public feedback on its waste collection services with the aim of increasing ‘public participation and support for the services we need to deliver’. The survey includes questions relating to the various collection schemes available, existing recycling practices, and the council’s role in improving recycling rates.

Read Cardiff’s Future of Waste and Recycling summary or complete the online survey.