Changes to the way that the black bag and glass waste is collected in Pembrokeshire are to go ahead.

Plans for fortnightly collections of black bag and glass waste were given the go ahead by Pembrokeshire County Council's cabinet on Monday.

The plans were also endorsed by the council's environment overview and scrutiny committee last Thursday.

At present, general black bag waste, which ends up in landfill sites, is collected once a week - along with food and orange bag recyclable waste.

There are no plans to change the collection of food waste and orange bag waste, which will continue to be collected once a week.

Clr. Huw George, cabinet member for environment and regulatory services, said that changes had to be made in order to meet tough Welsh Government recycling targets and to make financial savings.

"If we do not meet recycling targets, the council will face tough financial penalties which it is likely will be passed on to council tax payers," he said.

"Fortnightly black bag collections will divert more rubbish into recycling, bringing environmental benefits and enabling Pembrokeshire to meet its future Welsh Government statutory recycling target."

He added that research showed that fortnightly collections would also reduce costs by an estimated £500,000 a year.

The new fortnightly collections are to be introduced from October 14 and will apply to all households apart from some flats and multi occupancy properties that do not receive food and glass collections. These will continue to have weekly black bag collections until alternative arrangements can be made.

Householders can find out when their first fortnightly collection will be by entering their postcode into the Find My Nearest facility on http://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk">www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Over the coming weeks, every household in the county will also receive a card informing them of how the changes will affect them.

Collection days will remain unchanged, although collection times could alter.