Every household in county had black bag waste inspected, council reveals

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

All households in a Welsh county have had their black bin bag waste inspected by council officials during the last eight years – it has been revealed.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Economic Development and Environment Management scrutiny committee on Tuesday, October 21 councillors received an annual report on the authority’s Waste and Recycling performance for 2024/2025.

While the recycling rate went up from 66.18 per cent for 2023/2024 to 68.89 per cent in 2024/2025 it still fell short of the 70 per cent recycling rate.

[mid-content-banner]

Waste Wardens

Cllr Gareth Alban Davies (Independent group – Rassau and Garnlydan) asked questions around the council’s Waste Wardens.

Cllr Davies said: “We are reliant on the public to tell us about their neighbours who are not putting out any or very little recycling – Waste Wardens obviously respond to that.

“A lady contacted me to say that she put out four black bags every three weeks and felt she was recycling everything.

“A waste warden paid her a visit and vastly reduced how much black bag waste she puts out.

“Do wardens go out on a black bag day with our collectors and see who is putting out a lot of rubbish and then advise them accordingly?”

Andrew Long, who manages of the council’s frontline enforcement services, answered: “The wardens are very proactive in all the work they do the main enforcement tool we use at the moment is the – ‘keeping up with the Jones’ campaign.”

Keeping up with the Joneses is a campaign to ensure that every household in Blaenau Gwent recycles.

The aim of the campaign is to target the small minority of people who don’t recycle at all or who recycle very little.

[lower-mid-content-banner]

Enforcement visit

Mr Long said: “Over the last six to eight years every property in the county borough has had an enforcement visit so that’s over 32,000 homes.

“The work involves taking a black bag out of someone’s presented residual waste, photograph and log it and take it to the Silent Valley HWRC (Household Waste and Recycling Centre) and examine it for any recyclable material it might contain.

“If people are identified as putting out recyclate in their residual waste then we take an enforcement process which involves serving a legal notice and FPN (fixed penalty notice) and prosecution if that isn’t paid.”

The fine is £100.

Mr Long said: “There’s a large body of work that the guys do proactively in addition to the   crews notifying us where waste is being presented on collection days and we will subsequently monitor those addresses if there’s repeat offending.

“We’re very proactive when it comes to targeting non-compliant properties.”

Neighbourhood Services Manager Mathew Stent said it was about finding the balance of “carrot and stick” to ensure people do recycle as much as possible.

The committee approved the report.