26/03/20
Cardiff is moving to a new, weekly, kerbside-collection which will see all household waste (except garden waste) picked up at the same time.

Collection days for your area will remain the same, but the way waste is handled is changing to help manage the impact of COVID-19 and ensure the wellbeing of both residents and the workforce.

Starting on Monday, March 30^th, all residents who have a black, wheelie bin must put their food waste and hygiene waste (nappies/medical waste etc) into the black bin for collection.Do not use your food caddy. Collections will be on the normal day for your area.

Residents that live in areas which don't have black wheelie bins must put hygiene waste (nappies/medical waste etc) in their red-striped bags for general waste. Food waste in bag areas should continue to go into your food caddy to stop animals and birds scattering food waste across streets.

Recycling collections will continue as normal and recycling bags should be put out weekly at the same time alongside other waste.

All residents, wherever you live in Cardiff, are asked to continue to recycle as normal, to rinse out their recycling and to put the correct recyclables in their green recycling bags. The council's A-Z or recycling is available herehttps://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/resident/Rubbish-and-recycling/A-Z-of-recycling/Pages/default.aspx

Cllr Michael Michael, Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Recycling and the Environment said: "We believe this new system will enable us to keep the streets clean throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, even if we see reductions in crew numbers as people have time off to recover from the virus.

"It's really important that residents help us to get this right by complying with the new arrangements. They have been designed to enable us to run a full service with a reduced workforce."

As general waste will now be collected weekly rather than fortnightly the council does not expect to see black bins overflowing or excess general waste left by the side of bins.

Cllr Michael, added: "We would only expect to be collecting waste which an average household might generate in a week.

"It's vitally important people don't try to take advantage of the new system and leave out items which they can't take to the HWRCs which we've had to close for social distancing reasons.

"We have set up a system which will work if people adhere to the recommendations. I know most of us want to keep our city clean throughout the emergency, so please do your bit to help. I know most of you will."

Bulky waste and green garden waste collections

Bulky waste collections and green garden waste collections have been stopped until the emergency is over. Stopping these services will help the council deploy the workforce to keep our streets clean.

To simplify and ensure waste operations can continue with a reduced workforce we may be unable to sort recyclable waste during the emergency, as such, it will go to the energy from waste plant along with the residual waste. This is the safest way to dispose of waste that may be carrying Covid-19. 

However, as strange as it seems, we still need you to put recyclables into your green recycling bags so that we can return to recycling the waste when we are able.

 Also, if you don't wash out and separate your green bags animals and birds will break them open scattering waste over the streets. With a reduced workforce it'll become extremely difficult for us to manage and clean this up.

Cllr Michael added: "We know most of you will do the right thing, but we need all of you to do the right thing, for your city, your neighbours, for you and your family's health.

"We are also asking you to wipe down your bin handles with disinfectant during the emergency for the safety of both yourselves and our staff.

"Please do your bit to help us stop the virus. Catch, it bin it and we will kill it."

Green recycling bags remain available at the four key hubs which are, Central Library Hub; Powerhouse in Llanedeyrn, St Mellons Hub and Ely Hub. They can also be ordered online herehttps://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/resident/Rubbish-and-recycling/Food-and-recycling-bags/Pages/default.aspx and we are redeploying staff to speed up home deliveries. We ask for your patience in the circumstances as we do our best to get bags to you.

The new waste collection arrangements will be uploaded onto the council website and the Council App as soon as possible. The information contained in this press release is correct and is final.