RUBBISH collections could be slashed from every fortnight to every three weeks in Newport as part of the city council’s budget proposals for next year.

The local authority said the plan - one of a series of cuts included in the draft plan - was “a reflection of the major challenges” facing local government.

If the proposal gets the green light, Newport would become the second council in Gwent to move to three-week bin collections, after Blaenau Gwent took the same step in 2015.

That proved controversial, and when Blaenau Gwent council proposed cutting this again to every four-weeks earlier this year, one councillor said residents were already “struggling with three-weekly collections”.

When Blaenau Gwent council first raised the idea, in 2014, it met widespread opposition.

One businessman, the Argus reported at the time, raised health and safety concerns.

“I am of the mindset, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said. “Even now some people fill a bag every week and just chuck it outside, where it splatters all over the lane. If they move it to three weeks that problem is going to get worse and the streets will be covered in mess – the council will have to hire people just to clean all the muck up and keep away the rats."

Another Blaenau Gwent resident said in 2014 a reduction in bin collections should depend on a reduction in council tax.

“I think if that’s happening when we are paying the same amount of council tax, then it’s bad,” the Argus reported him saying.

Around 200 people went on to protest outside council offices in 2015 over the changes, and a petition calling for Blaenau Gwent council to abandon the plan gained 2,500 signatures, but both efforts ultimately failed to change minds.

In Newport, the suggestion to move to three-week rounds next year would also cover garden waste, which like the black bins for non-recyclable rubbish is currently picked up every fortnight.

In its proposals, the council claims the move could save £320,000 over two years, due to “less waste needing to be sent for disposal”.

The council said it would help Newport meet the Welsh Government’s ambitious recycling targets, which will increase again, from 65 to 70 per cent, in two years’ time.

“Not meeting Welsh Government targets could lead to the council being fined: at current performance levels, this fine would be around £500,000 per year,” the council said. “Waste will still be collected regularly, recycling collections will remain unchanged, and the amount of waste recycled will increase.”

Based on figures from Blaenau Gwent, that argument could hold water - the council there saw its recycling rate increase generally in the past five years, from 58 per cent in 2017 to more than 65 per cent in 2021.