Posted on: Friday 22 September 2023
Residents are helping to Raise the Rate by increasing the amount of cardboard they leave out for kerbside collections.
Between April and June this year, residents put out an extra 150 tonnes of cardboard for recycling compared to the same months last year.
To help crews manage with the increased volume – and to prepare for weekly collections – they are being asked to try and fit all cardboard recycling into their blue bags.
Flattening or breaking boxes up to fit in the blue bags helps crews to get more into the recycling vehicles quicker.
Residents 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.
Councillor Mandy Owen, Executive Member for the Environment, said: “We would like to thank residents for their continued support in increasing the amount they recycle.
“Breaking, flattening or squashing cardboard so it fits into the blue bags will be a big help to our crews, both in terms of reducing how long it will take them to collect at the kerbside and reducing the space it takes up inside the vehicles before they need to be emptied.
“The blue bags also help to keep the cardboard dry – wet cardboard is harder and more expensive to process.”
According to the last household waste compositional analysis carried out in 2022, 15 per cent of people’s purple-lidded bin contained cardboard and paper.
Increasing the amount of cardboard that is recycled will to increase recycling rates in the borough in line with Welsh Government's target of 70 per cent recycling by 2050.
Find out how you can help to raise the recycling rate in Torfaen.
If you need a new blue recycling bag visit one of our Customer Centres.
If you have large quantities of cardboard this can be taken to the Household Waste Recycling Centre at New Inn.