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Question from: County Councillor Karl Lewis Subject: Communal Cardboard and Glass recycling bins
Question:
With the ongoing staffing issues Powys County Council are experiencing with refuse collections would it not be wise to call for a temporary holt in removing Communal cardboard and glass recycling bins from community areas. Christmas is just around the corner and households typically have more cardboard and glass to recycle than in any other periods. Winter is typically a time of increased staffing pressures from illness coupled with the chances of winter storms where staff may be prioritised elsewhere which would add to the ongoing issues with missed collections. It would be very disappointing if Powys residents had to resort to burning good cardboard over the festive period as they had no easy way of disposing of it.
As we all know Powys County Council has a statuary recycling rate of 64% and has exceeded that rate to 66.7%. With the nearest HWRC being Newtown, that is a 30+ mile round trip for some of my residents. I would urge the portfolio holder to hold off removing the communal cardboard bin in Llandinam and other areas of Powys and reinstate the glass communal bin in Llandinam until staffing issues are under control.
Minutes: Response by the Cabinet Member:
Thank you for your question regarding the removal of the recycling banks from Community Recycling (Bring) Sites. Firstly, please can I clarify that the cardboard banks are not being removed and there is no intention to do so. These are very well used and this has particularly been the case since Covid and the increase in online shopping. The banks that have been removed are the glass and paper banks as these are materials that are recycled at the kerbside. Glass is one of the materials that is actually put out less often at the kerbside and this is the case across the authority whether or not there have been locally available glass banks. Many residents actually say that they don’t put out their glass every week due to the small quantities they produce.
We do appreciate that there have been considerable issues in the north due to the difficulty of recruiting staff. From discussions with colleagues in other authorities, this is common across Wales and particularly among the Councils in the north. We do have a rolling recruitment process with which we have had some success and will be taking on additional staff shortly, including drivers. This should alleviate the problems, but we are not being complacent and will continue to monitor the situation.
Leaving the glass banks on site or even reinstating them would actually compound the problem as we then need drivers to empty them which are better used on the kerbside rounds. Furthermore, the specialist vehicles used have gone beyond their effective life and are causing significant issues (and cost) in terms of maintaining them. As you will be aware the budget pressures are more acute than ever, so we do need to continue to remove these banks.
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