PEOPLE in Newport are having bins for non-recyclable waste swapped with smaller ones in an effort to encourage people to recycle more.

The city council failed to meet its recycling target of 52 per cent last year and is worried it could be fined up to £900,000 if it fails again this year.

Residents' wheelie bins are now being exchanged across the city for more slimline versions while the authority is rolling out a new reusable bag that cardboard will be collected in.

Some 55,000 bins will be swapped by the council with 11,000 in the first phase with a further four phases set to take place in 2014 – with the cost estimated at £850,000.

As a result residents will have at least six boxes and bags to recycle and dispose of rubbish in.

Residents already have a green waste bin, a food waste bin, a green recycling box for cans, foil, plastic and glass, a blue box for paper, textiles, catalogues and other items, and can also use a separate bag for plastics.

Val May, 76, who lives in a terraced house in Newport’s Liscombe Street and who doesn’t have a garden waste bin, says she is quite happy with how the system works in Newport.

But she said she leaves her main wheelie-bin out in the street, and added that it was difficult to know where to put the different bits and pieces in her house, with two recycling boxes stood by her back door that have to be shifted when she puts her washing on the line.

“It’s finding room to put things,” she said.

The old bins, which are more than five years old, will be recycled while better quality bins will be reused for other projects such as school’s recycling.

Newport’s “no-side waste policy” will stay in place – with residents facing potential fines of £100 or up to £5000 if they leave bags of rubbish at the side of their bins.

It is hoped that the £850,000 cost can be recovered in the first six months from savings achieved through increased recycling and reduced landfill.

A spokeswoman for the council said: “In the last ten years, Newport’s recycling rate has risen from 15 per cent to 49 per cent thanks to the hard work of its residents.

“However, in recent years things have slowed down. Last year we failed to meet our recycling target of 52 per cent and if we fail again this year we could be fined up to £900,000 – equivalent to an extra £15 on everyone’s council tax.”

For full information on what can be recycled where visit www.newport.gov.uk/recycling.