New proposals to transform the collection of waste and recycling in Pembrokeshire have been put forward in a comprehensive review.

The Waste Service Review has been carried out by Pembrokeshire County Council’s waste and recycling section and Eunomia Research and Consulting on behalf of Welsh Government.

It will be discussed next week (on October 5) by the Council’s policy and pre-decision overview and scrutiny committee.

The review aimed to find out how the council can meet the increasing recycling targets set by Welsh Government whilst making the collection of waste and recycling more efficient and cost-effective - against the backdrop of funding cuts.

Clr. Cris Tomos, cabinet member for environment and the Welsh language, said the current service would not meet future targets.

“We know that over 70 per cent of the waste produced by households in Pembrokeshire could be recycled,” he said. “But at the moment, households only recycle approximately 40 per cent of their waste collected at the kerbside.

“It’s not a case of we should be doing better than this. We must do better than this, or we will be fined by the Welsh Government.”

Clr. Tomos said the Government’s statutory recycling target for 2019-20 is 64 per cent, and by 2024-25 the target is 70 per cent.

“Right now, Pembrokeshire as a whole is recycling almost 60 per cent of its waste,” he said.

“But that still leaves us short of the target. For every one per cent of the target missed, we could be fined £140,000.”

The proposals in the Waste Service Review are to:

introduce a weekly household kerbside sort system and increase the variety of materials which can be recycled.

introduce three-weekly black bag collections with restrictions on the number of black bags collected with allowances for larger families (fortnightly collections for absorbent hygiene products i.e. nappies would be available).

consider the introduction of a black bag checking scheme at civic amenity sites so that any recyclable materials in black bags can be put into the correct recycling container.

The overview and scrutiny committee will examine the proposals on October 5 and forward them to cabinet to be discussed in November.

If cabinet approves consulting members of the public on the proposals, the consultation will take place before the end of the year, and responses would be discussed at a further overview and scrutiny committee meeting in February 2018. Cabinet would make a decision on the proposals and implementation plan in March 2018.

Members of the public can comment on the proposals in the Waste Service Review in a series of community meetings being held around Pembrokeshire called ‘Your Town, Your Say’ in October.

Please view www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/haveyoursay for details of the meetings, or ’phone the contact centre on 01437 764551.

* The Waste Service Review can be viewed on the Pembrokeshire County Council’s website at http://mgenglish.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=4148&x=1&LLL=0

Alternatively, please view www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk and click on Your Council/ Meetings and Agendas/ Latest/ and then the agenda for the Policy and Pre-Decision Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Thursday, October 5.