Newport City Council to move to three weekly bin collections

What changes to bin and recycling collections are happening in Newport?

Newport City Council will move to three-weekly bin collections this year, but rounds for recycling, food waste and hygiene bags will continue as normal.

The new system will help the city recycle more and avoid Welsh Government fines, the council said.

Around 12,000 households across the city will be involved in a pilot scheme this spring, followed by the rest of Newport in the autumn.

Will bigger bins be provided in Newport?

When we asked our readers for their views on the plans, many asked whether Newport council would provide bigger bins.

Four years ago, the council replaced most people's 180-litre black bins with smaller ones of a 120-litre capacity.

The move proved controversial at the time, and the council had to deny allegations it had "misled" people by reducing their weekly bin capacity after saying it would not cut collections.

It's four years later, and readers suggested the bigger bins should come back, but the council was silent on the matter when asked by the Argus.

Instead, people will receive larger containers for cardboard and paper, giving residents "more recycling capacity".

A return to bigger bins is unlikely to be something considered by a council which has already complained this year about financial pressures.

The council's waste strategy from 2019 shows it expected to spend around £1.15 million making the initial switch to the smaller bins, although the policy has since meant savings of around £110,000 a year.

Will any council staff lose their jobs?

Newport City Council said no existing workers would lose their jobs because collections were being cut to every three weeks.

A budget proposal included the removal of "6.75 full-time equivalent jobs from the service... [but] this was made up of vacant posts and agency cover, so the proposals don't affect staff", the council said.

Instead, the council plans to create six "new posts" in its Wastesavers recycling team.

Will three-weekly bin collections cause more fly-tipping?

This is another complaint made by critics of the council's plan, who say people will resort to illegally dumping their excess waste.

Newport won the unfortunate title of Wales' fly-tipping hotspot last year.

But the council said there was "no increase" in fly-tipping the last time it made a major change to bin collections, in 2019, when smaller containers were introduced.

"In 2019/20 there wasn’t a reported increase in the number of fly-tipping incidents compared to 2018/19," the council said. "Monitoring data showed 99 per cent compliance with the new domestic collections policy with very few instances that required intervention by the council."