Rhondda Cynon Taf residents 'disgusted' by plans to collect black bins every three weeks

Residents have been left "shocked" and "disgusted" after a council announced major changes to its black bin collections.

Rhondda Cynon Taf council announced black bags and bins will now be collected every three weeks instead of every two and there will be a maximum of three black bags per household for properties with existing collections.

Proposals were approved by the council’s cabinet on Monday (January 23) in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint.

The 'no side waste' rule continues for those households with large 240-litre wheelie bin collections, but one bag no larger than 70 litres is allowed for the standard 120-litre bins. 

Commenting on the plans, Rhondda Cynon Taf residents said they were "shocked", with some calling for their council tax to be deceased if "proper" services were not met.

Victoria Williams said: "What do we pay our taxes for? Absolutely disgusting. Bring on the fly tipping, that's what will happen even more now. Absolute joke!" Dave Bryant agreed, saying: "This is dreadful. We pay council tax for a service which the council should abide by and not keep changing the rules." He added that the council should provide "a proper service".

Michael Thomas said: "We are paying for a service that they were providing but no longer [do]. They used to collect it every week now they want to change it for the third time, so [we] should only be paying a third of the council rubbish tax."

Meanwhile Claire Martin said: "More council tax for less services, sounds about right. Be great in the summer with rats and flies, more houses in local green areas so they got more council tax paid to them while the already struggling infrastructure of schools, doctors, roads etc gets worse. Can't wait."

MS for Rhondda, Buffy Williams, says she is "really disappointed and disheartened" after reading that some are planning on leaving black bin bags outside her office in protest of the plans.

In a statement posted on social media, she outlined three reasons for the changes: "To keep the same level of service, as a result of the increase to cost of living (utility bills for schools, leisure centres, care homes, libraries, council offices, fuel costs etc), RCT Council needs to find over £30m. That isn't to provide more services, that's to provide the same level of service. The savings that changing to 3 weekly collection makes literally means the difference between keeping our leisure centres open or not."

"Not a single one of us wants to make the decisions to change service. We live in these communities, our friends and families live in these communities. These changes effect us, too. We don't do this for the sake of it, we do this because we have no other option. Yes the collection is changing to 3 weeks instead of 2, but we are able to still keep one black bag per week.

"Dumping black bags outside my office in protest won't change any decisions. There are cameras on the front of my office so for anybody who intends on leaving their rubbish, you will be caught on camera and the relevant authorities will be notified."

Rhondda Cynon Taf council has said plans will save the local authority around £800,000 a year, according to a report which says they could also lead to a 20% increase in food waste recycling. It says this would result in an additional food waste yield per household generating around 2,600 tonnes a year in additional recycling and save up to £350,000 a year.

The council report says the proposals would lead to a reduction in its carbon footprint and the number of collection rounds. It says despite this likely impacting the current staffing model of waste services, any reductions to the staffing model will be managed through the “agreed employment procedures and a realignment of resources, including agency staff levels.”

The report says records show that the council purchased 30.2 million single use bags during 2021/22 at a cost of £877,000, a £867,000 full year estimated cost for 2022/23.