Problem
Since 2012, all Newport City Council (NCC) residents have been given the opportunity to recycle plastics, metals, paper, cardboard and food from home, regardless of the type of housing they live in and whether they have individual or shared bins.
In 2019, NCC secured Welsh Government funding to make improvements to the communal bins provided to residents in flats, drawing on the findings of Flats Recycling trials carried out in London by ReLondon and WRAP1. The improvements included upgrading the bins to reverse lidded bins, and ensuring they were all clearly labelled with upgraded signage and stickers.
Despite extensive recycling facilities being provided, a 2021 waste composition analysis of properties receiving communal collections in Wales, which included Newport, revealed that 44% of the residual waste collected from shared bins consisted of materials which could have been recycled using the current collections service provided by the Council, had it been placed in the correct bin.
In 2023, Newport City Council changed its residual waste collection frequency from every two weeks to every three weeks for all properties on a regular collections service. In 2024, equivalent residual waste changes were implemented to encourage over 4,000 households receiving communal waste collections, to better utilise their existing comprehensive recycling collections service. This change aimed to deliver a more equitable service, encourage greater recycling participation and reduce residual waste. However, identifying the source of waste management issues in properties with shared bins can be more challenging.
Solution
A team of Waste Education and Enforcement Officers supported the residual service change in Newport to make it a success. In properties with shared bins, a different approach was required to improve performance.
Key measures included:
- Residual waste bins: Before the service change, Newport City Council worked with its housing service provider to remove communal residual bins and replace them with individual residual bins wherever feasible. This helped increase residents’ individual responsibility for waste disposal and made it easier to identify the source of any issues and resolve them before the frequency changes were implemented.
- Comprehensive weekly recycling collections: A full range of shared recycling bins were provided for residents, and the Council collected their contents weekly, ensuring ample space is available for all recyclable materials, including food waste.
- Residual collection frequency: Once a full recycling collections service was in place, and residual bins had been swapped to individual ones where feasible, NCC reduced collection frequency from every two weeks to every three weeks in line with the rest of the city.
- Targeted communications: Residents received information packs ahead of the changes, explaining the collection schedule changes, reminding them of the recycling bins available for use and what goes where, and outlining the reasons for the changes.
- Working with housing providers: NCC worked with its housing service provider to improve waste management on its sites. NCC is authorised to carry out enforcement at Newport City Homes properties when the educational approach has not been successful. Housing officers report issues to NCC officers, who visit, search bin bags where required, and speak to the offending household once identified. An educational approach is taken initially, followed by enforcement if necessary.
Impact
By aligning waste collection services for those receiving a communal service with those for the rest of the city, Newport City Council achieved environmental and financial benefits:
- Reduced residual waste: There has been a noticeable decrease in the amount of residual waste collected in Newport. No separate figures are available for flatted properties, however, across the city, the amount of kerbside residual waste collected is down 25%. Bin storage areas are tidier and more pleasant for residents to use.
- Positive impact of collaboration: By collaborating, Newport City Council and Newport City Homes are achieving better outcomes for residents, in line with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. Impacts for the housing association include reduced caretaker time on site and reduced excess waste removal charges, while the local authority benefits from a reduction in complaints about waste management.
- Improved recycling performance: Financial savings were made from reduced residual waste disposal and increased recycling revenue. Furthermore, reduced waste dumping is contributing to a cleaner environment, in line with the Council’s broader environmental goals.
Newport City Council’s approach to communal waste collections has demonstrated the benefits of providing all residents with the same standard of service, enabling everyone to maximise their recycling efforts.