Cross-border recycling rules discussed by Powys councillors

Powys residents could pop over to use neighbouring recycling facilities, only if the Welsh Government managed them all, a council chief has said.

.At Powys County Council meeting of the Economy, Residents and Communities scrutiny committee on Monday, December 9, councillors discussed the draft Powys Sustainable Resource Strategy.

This strategy will be put out to a three month “engagement process” early next year which will allow residents to have their say on how waste and recycling will be run in the county up to 2030.

The document outlines that there could be fewer black rubbish bin collections, and people who don’t recycle their rubbish could be punished with fines.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Chloe Masefield said:  “It’s great to see the council continuing to work really hard to reduce waste, it’s all really positive.

“I just wonder if there’s any cross border working around recycling.”

She explained that people living in her Crickhowell with Cwmdu and Tretower ward in south east Powys are closer to waste and recycling facilities in South Walian authorities than to Powys ones.

Cllr Masefield said: “For where we are it would make more sense to go to Abergavenny (in Monmouthshire).”

She added that it was “quite confusing” for Powys residents on the borders to see those living close by using different colour boxes for recycling.

With the new strategy being finalised Cllr Masefield believed it would be “good” for the council to mention these differences with the Welsh Government.

Cabinet member for waste and recycling Cllr Jackie Charlton who represents Llangattock, which is near Crickhowell and lies just above the Gwent valleys.

She has also campaigned in the past to allow her residents to use recycling facilities four or five miles away in Monmouthshire rather than face the 30-mile trek to Brecon HWRC.

Cllr Charlton said: “You’re right on the cross-border issue – we shouldn’t have all this complication especially as we have enormous borders around Powys.”

Senior waste and recycling manager Ashley Collins said: “It doesn’t make sense to residents, but it’s very much a financial issue.

“It’s down to funding between different authorities.”

He explained that Powys allow residents from Neath Port Talbot Borough Council to cross the border into southwest Powys to use the Household Waste Recycling Centre in Ystradgynlais.

This is because Neath Port Talbot “pay for half of it.”

Mr Collins said: “They closed one of their sites so that they could send people up to ours.

“We have had various discussions in the past with Monmouthshire and going over into Shropshire and it comes down to money which we things like residents only permits are put on these sites.

“The only way to do it would be for the Welsh Government to take control of all HWRC’s and run them all themselves – which would be a logistically difficult thing to do but it would mean that you could anywhere.”

He didn’t believe this would ever happen in reality.

Turning to the recycling boxes, Mr Collins explained that 17 of the 22 Welsh local authorities were following a “recycling blueprint.”

This has been issued by the Welsh Government in an attempt to “standardise” recycling across the country.

The “engagement process” on the draft strategy is set to start on January 10.