Changes to recycling containers are being introduced in an effort to boost recycling rates.
From the beginning of May, the council and our recycling charity partner Wastesavers will be delivering new blue bags for recycling cardboard and paper to use instead of the existing blue box.
The council and Wastesavers will be sending a letter and a leaflet out with each new bag to explain how the changes work.
The changes are:
- Cardboard and paper go in the new blue bag.
- Glass and small electrical items to go in residents’ existing green box. We will be sending out a sticker to go on the box to remind residents what to put in it.
- Clothing or textiles now go in a plastic bag, tied securely and left out with recycling for collection.
- Food and Drink cartons now go in the existing red bag,together with cans and plastics
There are no changes to food waste collection, which goes in the food waste caddy.
The new bag is 60 per cent bigger than the blue box it will replace, which will help residents to recycle more and help us increase our recycling rate as a city.
Newport is already one of Wales and the UK’s best performing cities for recycling, with rates reaching over 67 per cent in recent years.
To meet future Welsh Government targets, we must increase this to 70 per cent by 2024/25.
Commenting on the changes, Councillor Yvonne Forsey, cabinet member for climate change and biodiversity, said: “While many households in Newport recycle as much as they can, we know that there is still a lot of waste that is disposed of which could still be recycled.
“Our new bags are much bigger than the previous blue boxes, giving residents much more space to recycle, as well as being easier to store away.
“We hope that these changes will help us increase our recycling rates and keep Newport in amongst the UK’s top performing cities.”
Residents who want to recycle their existing blue box are asked to leave it out along with their next recycling collection so we can collect it.
The new recycling bags are being delivered ahead of a change to the way the council collects non-recyclable household waste.
The change will see non-household waste collected once every three weeks, as opposed to once every two weeks as it is currently collected.
By providing more recycling capacity to residents, the council aims to make it easier to recycle and reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste that will need to be collected.
