FAQs - Recycling and waste
Page updated on: 20/03/2024
The following FAQs should answer any queries that you may have about recycling, bins and litter. Get in touch via the "Ask a question" tab if there is anything you need additional information about.
Food waste
In a county of over 90,000 households, everyone’s food waste mounts up – the smallest amount will have an impact. It’s up to you what that impact is!
If you put your food waste into your black bag it goes to landfill. As food waste rots in landfill it gives off the greenhouse gas methane which is responsible for climate change.
The food we collect in your food bin is used to generate electricity and to make fertiliser. Just 6 recycled tea bags could produce enough electricity to boil a kettle for another cuppa.
Putting your food waste into your food bin also stops animals from tearing open your black bags.
Deliveries are made to all households between November - April.
They will be left within the boundary of your property, or at your usual bin collection point.
Houses across the road or further down the street can often be on different delivery routes. Therefore, you could receive your items at different times.
If you run out of bags/liners before your delivery, check our outlets for what is available and where to collect.
We ask wardens to take delivery of bags for all residents or arrange for us to have access so that we can deliver them.
For any new housing sites with sections of the site that are still under construction, we will ask the developer to take the delivery and issue bags to residents.
If you run out of bags/liners before your delivery, check our outlets for what is available and where to collect.
- If your collection point is usually at the end of the lane, we will place the bags there.
- If you use a bunker we will leave the bags inside the bunker.
- If you use a wheelie bin we will leave the bags next to the bin.
Your bags will be left on the door step.
No, blue bags and food waste liners are issued for household recycling only. All businesses have a duty of care to dispose of their waste appropriately through a commercial waste agreement with a registered waste carrier.
Some households are serviced by smaller caged vehicles which means that the food waste is not contained in the same way as on our larger collection vehicles. These households have been provided large liners because they are stronger and contain the waste more securely.
If you have been provided with large liners it is really important that you use them, even if you are using the smaller caddie liners, as they stop food waste from spilling out of the vehicle.
Food scraps, vegetable peelings, meat and fish including bones, seafood shells, waste pet food, egg shells, tea bags and coffee grounds can go in your kitchen caddy / food bin. Have a look on the A-Z of recycling to see a full list of what goes in your food bin.
We will provide you with a kitchen caddy to put in your kitchen and a food bin, to put out for weekly collection. We also supply food liners to make it easier for you to recycle all of your food waste.
Complete our online form to request a new kitchen caddy / food bin. Or collect one from your nearest Customer Service Hwb.
Yes, but we will need to make an assessment of the access to your property first. To apply for this service, you will need to call 01267 234567, we will ask some questions about your property and proposed collection point.
Once we receive your request it will be assessed by our team and a decision will be made on whether we can offer this service to you. We only need to assess your property once. If you apply for any additional waste collections, we will collect from the same point.
If you run out of blue bags or food waste liners before we deliver your next year’s supply, check our outlets to find out from where you may collect these.
We’ve considered all the options available, and the most efficient and cost-effective way to deliver the improvements to our services means we must change some collection days.
You can sign up to receive email or text message reminders for your collection days.
If you need additional blue bags or food waste liners you may collect these from one of our outlets.
If you have additional glass bottles and jars to recycle that you can’t fit in your box, please either hold onto these until your next collection or take them to your local glass bank. Unfortunately, we’re unable to provide additional boxes.
If you need to report a damaged or broken box please complete the online form.
If you’re unable to put your waste out for collection, please call us on 01267 234567
and we’ll discuss possible options for additional support with you.
If you already receive an assisted lift collection, this will continue.
Visit My Recycling Wales to find out what happens to your recycling and black bags once collected.
Please check and follow the advice on our missed collections page, before reporting that your waste has been left behind.
In Carmarthenshire all our food waste is now recycled by a process called anaerobic digestion. The food waste is converted into fertiliser and biogas which is used as an energy source. All food liners must be screened out and removed, as they cannot be processed with the food. Therefore, there is no longer a need for compostable liners, which are more expensive. By making this change, we can save even more money by joining with other local authorities on large scale purchasing contracts.
As part of our service change we have undertaken carbon impact modelling. This exercise indicates that the new collection methodology will result in the annual saving of in excess of 200 tonnes per annum of CO2 compared to the old service. Although there is additional vehicles and transport movements the net-benefit of increased recycling will have an overall positive impact on our carbon footprint. In addition, this change has enabled us to start our journey on the utilisation of electric vehicles for waste services.
Recycling, Bins and Litter
Recycling / bin collections
- Black bags
- Report a missed bin collection
- A-Z of recycling
- Waste/recycling collection disruptions
- Email/text message collection reminders
- Glass collection service
Blue bags - Recycling
Food waste
Garden waste
Recycling Centres
Electrical / Electronic waste
Real nappies
Litter
- Report a litter problem
- Dog fouling
- Fly tipping
- Fly posting
- Graffiti
- Beach litter
- Fines for littering
- Pride in your Patch
- Dog Fouling Resource Pack
- 2 minute clean up - board locations
Hygiene and nappy waste
Future changes to recycling and bin collections
Eto
Event waste and recycling guide
- Pre event planning - design out the waste first where possible.
- Look for commercial/business waste services in your area
- Marketing and promotion of the event
- Containers and signage
- The post event clean up
Tîm Tacluso
More from Recycling, Bins and Litter