Welsh Government figures show best council recycling rates

Caerphilly County Borough Council was one of five local authorities to miss the Welsh Government's 64 per cent recycling target between April and June last year.

Residents and traders in Caerphilly only managed to recycle 61.3 per cent of the waste they generated – the second-lowest return in Wales.

Gwent's other councils fared better, although Torfaen (65.1 per cent recycling rate) was still below the national average.

Monmouthshire and Newport councils recorded the sixth and seventh-highest recycling rates of Wales' 22 councils.

Newport City Council figures show residents and traders in the city recycled 69.5 per cent of their waste in April-June 2021, the most recent period on record.

And in Monmouthshire the rate was even better (70.5 per cent).

People in Blaenau Gwent managed to recycle 66.5 per cent of the waste they generated in the same period.

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Recycling is a big deal in Wales, which already ranks among the best nations in the world for cutting landfill waste. Ministers have expressed hope Wales can become the world's best recycler, and a strategy published last year lays out plans to achieve just that.

The government has set councils current targets to achieve a minimum recycling rate of 64 per cent, and any local authorities that fail to hit those rates can be fined hefty sums – costs that are ultimately passed on to the taxpayer.

Three councils in Gwent reportedly escaped fines in the thousands of pounds a few years ago when they missed the Welsh Government's then 58 per cent target for the 2015/16 year.

The government said it would decide whether to impose of waive fines for any councils who missed targets in 2020/21 after a fact-finding process had concluded.

A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: "Recent stats show Wales managed to uphold its world-class recycling targets last year despite the disruptions caused by Covid-19.

"We are working with Local Authorities who missed their targets to understand the reasons for the shortfall and to help ensure future targets are met.

"This work is critical to achieve our ambitions to become the world’s number one recycler and a zero waste nation by 2050."

The figures also show the amount of waste generated in Wales in April-June 2021 quarter was 20 per cent higher than the same period in 2020, and two per cent higher than the same months in 2019.

The government has acknowledged pandemic "disruption" to waste services may have caused "anomalies" in the most recent figures and between councils' individual waste management operations.

"Despite the period April to June 2021 not being in lockdown there were several factors that could have impacted waste management across the local authorities," the Welsh Government said. "Some potential impacts could have been staff shortages, facilities remaining closed, employees no longer having to work from home and accounting for waste that may have previously been retained/deferred."

Six of Wales' councils, including Monmouthshire, managed to hit a 70 per cent recycling rate in April-June 2021. That figure will become the Welsh Government's new minimum recycling target from 2025.