Posted on: Thursday 26 October 2023
Cardboard recycling collections will increase from fortnightly to weekly from next month.
The frequency is being increased in time for Christmas to help residents manage with excess cardboard recycling over the festive period.
From Monday November 13, residents can leave their blue bags out every week on their usual collection day.
Like your black recycling box, it does not matter if your blue bag is not full - just leave it out by 7am and our crews will collect.
Find out what can and cannot be recycled in blue bags and where to collect additional blue bags.
Councillor Mandy Owen said: "We committed to continuing with our plan to increase our cardboard recycling service when we announced the start of our Raise the Rate campaign in April.
"Independent research has found around 15 per cent of purple-lidded bin rubbish contains paper and cardboard. We hope increasing the frequency of the cardboard collections will help encourage residents to put more into their blue bags."
Increasing cardboard recycling collections is one of a number of ways Torfaen Council is helping to Raise the Recycling Rate in line with the Welsh Government’s target of 70 per cent recycling by March 2025.
Last year, the council bought 19 new vehicles to increase the kerbside recycling service and earlier this year, the service introduced small battery recycling and improve the consistency of textile collections.
In preparation for the move to weekly cardboard collections, residents are asked to make sure all cardboard fits into their blue bags.
Flattening and breaking boxes will help crews get more into the recycling vehicles quicker. It also helps to keep the cardboard dry which makes it easier and more cost-effective to recycle.
Households can have more than one blue bag and larger items, like TV or furniture boxes that are difficult to break down, can be taken to the Household Waste Recycling Centre in New Inn.
Find out what can and cannot be recycled in blue bags and where to collect additional blue bags.