Around one third of homes in Carmarthenshire will move to a new Separated Recycling collection service from November 2026, in the first phase of Carmarthenshire County Council’s changes to household recycling collections.
For most homes in the first phase, which mainly covers the western parts of the county, the new service will begin on Monday 2 November 2026. It will be introduced in stages during November, so a small number of homes in the first phase will start later in the month.
Residents will receive a letter in October confirming their collection arrangements and the date they should begin using the new service, and the council is asking them to follow the information in that letter. From November, homes across the county may also have different collection days, or a different collection week for their black bags, whether they are changing to the new service this year or staying on the current Mixed Recycling service.
Homes changing to the new service will sort their recycling into separate reusable sacks and bags, and the council will no longer collect recycling in single-use blue bags from them. They will receive reusable sacks – red for metals, plastics and cartons, orange for cardboard and blue for paper – along with a roll of red bags for plastic bags and wrapping and a small reusable white sack for household batteries. The new service will allow residents to recycle plastic bags and wrapping, and household batteries, from home.
The council is delivering the new sacks, with an annual supply of food waste caddy liners, to homes changing to the new service during September and October 2026. Residents can check the status of their delivery online and report a missed delivery if deliveries in their area have been completed.
Food waste and recycling will continue to be collected every week, as will glass bottles and jars. There will be no changes to garden waste collections or hygiene and nappy waste collections, and the council will continue to collect up to three black bags of non-recyclable waste every three weeks. For a small number of homes where the change to collection days creates a gap of more than three weeks between black bag collections, the council will provide a one-off extra collection and will write to those residents separately.
The new service forms part of the Welsh Government’s Collections Blueprint and is designed to increase the amount of recycling collected and improve its quality. Carmarthenshire will be the 19th local authority in Wales to make the transition. The council said councils that do not meet Welsh Government’s recycling targets could face significant fines, with potential consequences for council taxpayers.
Every home in the county received a letter during the summer confirming whether it would change to the new service this autumn or continue using the current Mixed Recycling (blue bags) service for now, and residents can also use the council’s online postcode checker. Homes staying on the Mixed Recycling service will be written to again before they change, and will receive their usual annual supply of blue bags and food waste caddy liners between November 2026 and January 2027.
Cllr Edward Thomas, Carmarthenshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste and Infrastructure Services, said: “This is a significant change to the way many of our residents recycle at home, and we want to make the move to the new service as simple and straightforward as possible. We will be providing homes with their new recycling sacks and information before their new collections begin. It is important that residents look out for their letter in October, as this will confirm their start date and any changes to their collection day or week. By separating our recycling, we can improve the quality of the materials we collect, recycle more of our waste and help Carmarthenshire achieve its recycling targets. I would like to thank residents in advance for their support as we introduce the new service.”
More information, including the postcode checker and frequently asked questions, is available at www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/separatedrecycling.
