Eight councils in Wales are set to benefit from a combined £5.4m from the Welsh Government for projects to reduce waste and increase the reuse and recycling of materials.
The funding was announced earlier this week by Welsh environment minister, Hannah Blythyn, with projects ranging from reuse centres to improvements to waste collection services.
Hannah Blythyn (left) visited a reuse centre run by Crest, the social enterprise which collects textiles and small electrical items for Conwy council
Collections
Part of the funding will go towards helping a number of councils conform to the Collections Blueprint – the Welsh Government’s recommended model for the collection of household waste by 2020.
The Collections Blueprint – a collections standard first published in 2011 – advocates weekly separate dry recycling and food waste collections via a kerbside sort system.
According to the Welsh Government, some of the projects will improve facilities to repair or refurbish unwanted items. A new ‘Green Shed’ in Colwyn Bay will involve the local community in preparing items to be reused. A second ‘reuse centre’ in Rhondda Cynon Taf will open in Treherbert, alongside the existing centre in Llantrisant, which the Minister visited earlier this week. A new reuse facility will also open in the Maindee area of Newport.
In Pembrokeshire, a Zero Waste School pilot project will provide new recycling facilities at 24 schools in the county, to recycle more waste from schools while encouraging the pupils to reduce waste or dispose of it responsibly.
Funding will be provided to Denbighshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire and Blaenau Gwent, including new reuse facilities and improvements to waste collection services. It will also go towards new collection vehicles.
Commenting on the announcement, Hannah Blythyn said: “One of the best ways to reduce waste is to repair and refurbish items so they can be reused and some of these projects will improve facilities to enable this. We’re also investing in a pilot schools project to reduce waste and instill good habits from a young age.
“Where materials can’t be re-used, the next best method is to recycle, so we’re also investing in the machinery to better manage recyclable items.”
‘Ambition’
“This range of new projects will not only help reduce waste in the coming years, it should lead to a cultural change in the longer term, helping us achieve our ambition to become a ‘Zero Waste Nation’ by 2050.”
Hannah Blythyn
Welsh Government
Ms Blythyn pointed to Wales’ recycling performance, which she said has “increased dramatically, from 5% in 1999 to 63% last year”.
A report by environmental consultancy Eunomia last year found that Wales had the fourth highest recycling rate in the world when compared on a “like-for-like” basis with other countries (see letsrecycle.com story).
The environment minister continued: “This range of new projects will not only help reduce waste in the coming years, it should lead to a cultural change in the longer term, helping us achieve our ambition to become a ‘Zero Waste Nation’ by 2050.”
This latest bout of funding follows the news earlier this year that Welsh authorities would be benefiting from more than £7.5 million funding for recycling services (see letsrecycle.com story). And, in May, the Welsh Government announced a further £15m for councils to improve recycling collection systems and infrastructure (see letsrecycle.com story).
Projects
The eight capital funding projects are:
- £500,000 to Pembrokeshire County Council to support a Zero Waste Schools initiative
- £1,020,000 to Conwy/Denbighshire County Councils to support initiatives by CREST
- £1,175,000 to Newport City Council to support initiatives by Wastesavers
- £900,000 to Denbighshire County Council
- £541,000 to Blaenau Gwent CBC
- £120,000 to Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC
- £646,375 to Monmouthshire County Council
- £490,000 to Merthyr Tydfil CBC
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
