Cut back on black bin collections, councils told

THE Welsh Government has recommended that black bag waste should be collected from households only once every three to four weeks.

- RUTH MOSALSKI & SION MORGAN

In newly issued guidance for councils, the government states that “collection once every three to four weeks is sufficient and more frequent collection should be avoided so that it does not undermine the effectiveness of the recycling service provided”.

The Collections Blueprint 2025 document outlines that a weekly limit of 60 litres of black waste per household is “sufficient”, noting that a standard wheelie bin has a capacity of 240 litres.

The document emphasises that the Welsh Government's advised approach is “for all aspects of collection (household recycling and waste collections, reuse and recycling centres, bring sites, bulky collections, non-household recycling and waste collections, and litter collections) to be managed in an integrated way to deliver high-quality resource and management services at the lowest practicable unit costs”.