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Kerbside Recycling Change Scandal
Denbighshire County Council is close to having spent £22m of taxpayers' money - including £10m of its own funds (£1m from reserves and £9m borrowed) - on scrapping the popular, easy-to-use and high-performing blue wheelie bin and switching to a less flexible system which will make recycling more difficult, result in littered streets and bring no improvement to recycling figures which could not be achieved with the existing system.
The council has followed this path under heavy pressure from the Labour/Plaid Welsh Government to adopt its preferred model, but did not have to do so.
The reason given for the change has been the need to increase recycling rates, yet the 2022-23 statistics demonstrate that Denbighshire is currently achieving an impressive 65.9% recycling rate. It is already performing above average for Wales, and second best out of the six councils in North Wales. Importantly, it does better than some councils which already have the model it intends to implement.
The actual reason for the change has always been about trying to save money, and receiving millions in the process for setup costs from the Welsh Government. Yet the projected annual savings were always small and based on variable factors. As predicted, the upfront cost of the change will have more than wiped out any savings for decades to come. Plus the £12m "sweetener" from the Welsh Government is still taxpayers' money.
I consider the council's decision to ignore opposition and plough ahead regardless to be one of the worst decisions it has ever made, and to be unforgivable in the context of this year's 9.34% council tax increase.
Following many delays and cost increases, the council now plans to introduce the new system in June 2024. It is doing so on the basis of support from its Cabinet only - Full Council has never been given a vote on the matter.
There are separate unpopular and onerous Welsh Government requirements that workplaces have had to conform to since April 2024, which do not apply in England.
Campaign
In October 2019, amongst other measures, Denbighshire County Council (DCC) proposed to replace the blue wheelie bin with separate ‘kerbside sort’ recycling boxes stacked up on a trolley (the "trolleybox"). I responded to this proposal with a 5-page submission (see below).
Since before being re-elected as MP for the Vale of Clwyd in December 2019, I have been campaigning on behalf of residents in Denbighshire to retain the blue bin kerbside recycling service.
I have on many occasions since that time met and exchanged correspondence with senior officers and county councillors. There are other ways in which recycling rates could be boosted while retaining the blue wheelie bin. However, they have shown an unwillingness to reconsider or explore a range of other options or compromises.
Limited consultation carried out by the council has been dishonest - failing to spell out the fact that the blue bin has been under threat. There has in general been a reluctance to communicate the proposed changes to the public, in the knowledge that they would be very unpopular.
I made two particular suggestions to the council in July 2021:
(1) That optimal recycling promotion and enforcement activity be implemented on the existing system. If recycling rates were the true reason for the change, the council would already be doing this.
(2) That a full assessment be carried out on the impact of the forthcoming national Deposit Return Scheme, the details of which currently remain unclear, but which threaten to derail any business case for the council’s proposals.
In 2022 and early 2023, I made further calls for a re-evaluation of the council's plans, given spiralling costs. I was led to believe that there was always a Plan B which involved retention of the blue bin. However, there was a strong reluctance by the then newly elected council to examine this.
In the spring of 2023, I sent out 5,000 surveys which included a question about the kerbside recycling service. Replies indicated that the vast majority wanted to retain the existing system - but I am concerned that many still remain unaware of the proposed changes.
In November 2023, I visited Shotton Mills Ltd (SML) with Gareth Davies MS and Denbighshire Conservative Councillors. This facility is the current destination of Denbighshire's kerbside waste, which it processes via a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).
The company advised us that the UK has a requirement of 8m tonnes of cardboard per annum but currently only has the capacity to process and produce 3m tonnes. Britain currently exports recycled fibre to the continent and imports cardboard boxes. SML is therefore investing heavily in the site, converting its newspaper production to cardboard box production. They also intend to produce tissue products.
SML will need to actively encourage councils to send it paper and cardboard waste so as to allow it to fulfil its future plans for the site. It sells sorted glass and plastic “downstream” and can continue to do this. As a result of the Welsh Government's policy strategy, it is now having to bring most of the waste it processes from elsewhere in the UK.
My assessment is that SML need DCC’s paper and card waste in particular and that the proposed collection of cardboard in a bag attached to a trolleybox will be a backward step, with the material being more liable to be wet, hampering the recycling process.
Council Refuses to Listen
Unfortunately, in March 2023 I was advised that: “the formal view of the council is that switching to the new waste model is not a mistake” and that “current [Labour-led] Cabinet…remain strongly supportive of the project…”
These plans are being put in place despite the fact that other councils in the country, with UK Government encouragement, have been making the opposite move - from boxes to co-mingled wheelie bins - and that many residents in neighbouring Conwy, which already has a trolleybox system, continue to complain bitterly at the lack of space for cardboard and the mess created when the trolleyboxes blow over on windy collection days.
Denbighshire CC has confirmed to me that they have no plans to increase road sweeping to remove street litter under the new system, even though this was found to be necessary prior to the blue wheelie bin system being introduced.
Background
Between 2006 and 2012, the mixed recycling blue bin replaced a primitive system of recycling collections by way of a blue box and dumpy bag. As a resident and at that point also a County Councillor, I knew that the old system made recycling too difficult and frequently allowed litter to escape onto our streets.
The introduction of the co-mingled blue wheelie bin service was popular as well as successful. It helped Denbighshire County Council achieve excellent recycling rates compared with other counties. Recycling was made convenient and flexible and, of course, the environment benefited as a result.
Despite this, the Welsh Government (WG) has persistently applied pressure on the council to move away from the blue bin, at significant cost to the taxpayer. For a number of years, the council rightly rejected this, producing leaflets and posters such as the one uploaded to this page.
Is it now too late to salvage the situation?
Even at this late stage, the council should re-evaluate its plans and seek all ways in which the blue bin could be retained. At present, no discussions have taken place between the council and the Welsh Government to explore flexibilities that may exist within its grant-funded works. The new waste model has required the construction of a new depot on the Colomendy Industrial Estate in Denbigh and there is scope for this to be used in any scenario.
If you have strong views on the matter, please contact me and complete my survey.
NB The video above was filmed in 2019, before the project costs increased.
Previous Facebook posts on this matter:
9th Jan 2019: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/LTNo59bsjz33oD2r
11th Jun 2019: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/4H1AF1vvB8bdzHAc
16th Nov 2019: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/mk3tnkoPWktfPELJ