Future changes to recycling collections in parts of Carmarthenshire

If your home is changing to the new Separated Recycling service from mid-late autumn 2026, the letter we send you in the summer will tell you:

• when we’ll deliver your new recycling sacks, and
• when you’ll receive an information pack explaining how to use them.

In September, we’ll send you an information pack that includes:

• a calendar showing your collection dates from mid-late autumn 2026,
• a booklet explaining which household items go in each sack and container and how to put your recycling out on your collection day, and
• a quick guide showing ‘what goes where’.

If your home isn’t changing to the new Separated Recycling service this year, you are staying on the current Mixed Recycling (Blue bags) service, but your collection day might still change. The letter we send you in the summer will confirm this.

Then, in September, we’ll send you a new calendar showing your collection dates from mid-late autumn 2026 onwards.

For more information about the Mixed Recycling (blue bags) service, visit Blue bags- recycling

Many councils across Wales have already made these changes, following Welsh Government’s recycling guidelines. This has helped them increase the amount of recycling they collect and improve its quality. 

Sorting your recycling into separate sacks and containers helps us collect cleaner materials. This means more can be recycled into new products, which reduces carbon emissions and helps tackle climate change. 

The new service will also allow us to collect extra items – such as plastic bags & wrapping, and household batteries – making it easier for you to recycle even more of your waste from home.

Councils can be fined for not meeting Welsh Government’s recycling target.  

We’re introducing the new Separated Recycling collections service across Carmarthenshire in two phases. This will help us make sure the new service runs smoothly from the start.

We’re starting in areas that are simpler to collect from, with fewer different property types and collection arrangements. This will help us set up the service successfully before expanding it to more complex areas.

Introducing the service in phases will also give us time to make sure our depots and recycling facilities have enough space and capacity to support the changes across the whole county. 

Until you receive your new recycling sacks and bags, and information pack, please continue to present your recycling and non-recyclable waste in the usual way.

For now, if you’re not sure what you can and can’t recycle from home using your current blue bags and black box, find more information here.

You may also recycle extra household items at your local recycling centre.

No. The amount of Council Tax you pay will not be reduced because of changes to the recycling collections service. 

Council Tax pays for a wide range of local services, including adult and children’s social care, schools, roads, parks, libraries, environmental services, and many others.  

The new recycling service changes how your recycling is collected, not the level of service you receive. Instead of using single-use blue bags, you'll use separate reusable containers to sort your recycling before it's collected. 

These changes will help increase the amount of recycling we collect and improve its quality. This means more can be recycled into new products, which reduces carbon emissions and helps tackle climate change. It will also help us meet Welsh Government’s recycling target while continuing to provide a regular recycling collections service from homes across the county. County councils can face heavy fines for failing to meet Welsh Government's recycling targets, which can directly impact council taxpayers. 

If your home is changing to the new Separated Recycling collections service from mid-late autumn 2026, we will deliver the new recycling sacks over several weeks during August and October. When your sacks are delivered to your home, please store them safely until you need to start using them in the autumn. We will also deliver your annual supply of food waste caddy liners at the same time.

From Monday 7 September, you will be able to check whether we’ve delivered the new sacks to your home or whether we’ve not yet visited your area by checking your delivery status online.

We will also provide regular updates on our social media channels as we complete deliveries in each area. Please check these updates and the Council’s website before using our online form to tell us if you've not received your sacks.

If your home isn’t changing to the new Separated Recycling collections service this year, you won’t need to start sorting your recycling into the new separate sacks and bags yet. This means you won’t receive new recycling sacks and bags this year.

We’ll write to you again before those changes happen in your area. Until then, please continue using your current blue bags and other existing containers for your recycling.

We will deliver your annual supply of blue bags and food waste caddy liners to your home later this year.

Please remember to use your:

• food bin for your food waste,
• black box for your glass bottles and jars, and

• blue bags for your:

• metal cans, tins, aerosols and foil,
• plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays,
• food and drink cartons, such as Tetra Pak,
• cardboard, and
• paper.
  

Homes changing to the new service will receive: 

• a reusable red sack for metals, plastics and cartons - 90 litre capacity, 45cm depth x 45cm width x 45cm height (internal dimensions)
• a reusable orange sack for cardboard - 90 litre capacity, 45cm depth x 45cm width x 45cm height (internal dimensions)
• a reusable blue sack for paper - 40 litre capacity, 30cm depth x 30cm width x 45cm height (internal dimensions)
• a roll of red bags for plastic bags and wrapping - 30 litre capacity, 35cm width (closed) x 55cm width (open) x 60cm length (including tie tabs/ handles)
• a small reusable white sack for household batteries - 20cm width x 25cm height (external dimensions)

In other parts of Wales where these sacks are already being used, most residents keep them outside in their garden, garage, shed or outside container.

You may fold your sacks and keep them inside your home, or you can store them outside with your bins and caddies if that’s easier for you.

Please write your address on your new sacks using a permanent marker pen. This will help you recognise your sacks after we collect their contents.

If you live in a home with shared bins, you will stay on the current Mixed Recycling service for now and should continue using the blue bags. In the summer, we’ll send you a letter confirming this.

Your collection days might change from mid-late autumn 2026. In October, we’ll send you a second letter confirming your collection days from autumn, along with a collections calendar.

Before your home changes to the new ‘Separated Recycling’ collections service, we’ll write to you again.

In the summer, we’ll send a letter to every home in the county confirming if they’re changing to the new Separated Recycling collections service in mid-late autumn 2026, or if they’re staying on the current ‘Mixed Recycling’ collections service for now.

In October, we’ll send a second letter to every home in the county confirming their collection days from the autumn, along with a collections calendar.

If your home is changing to the new Separated Recycling service from mid-late autumn 2026, we’ll also send you an information pack that includes:

• a booklet explaining which household items go in each sack as well as your other existing containers
• a ‘quick guide’ showing you what goes where

If your home isn’t changing to the new Separated Recycling service this year, we will write to you again before your home changes to the Separated Recycling service in the future.

You may also sign up to our email news bulletin service – Your council news – which keeps Carmarthenshire residents informed about council news and updates, including information about changes to your recycling and non-recyclable waste collections.

You’ll see us using new vehicles to collect your recycling. Some of these vehicles look like standard collection vehicles but they’re specifically designed with different compartments to keep your recycling separate once we collect it.

By collecting your recycling from separate sacks and bags, already sorted, it’ll improve the quality of the materials we collect from you. This means more of it can be recycled into new products instead of using raw materials, which reduces our carbon emissions and supports efforts to tackle climate change.

The improvements we’re making to our recycling collections mean the days on which we collect recycling and non-recyclable waste will change for some homes.

As we introduce separate sacks and bags for the different types of recycling, such as metals, plastics, cartons, cardboard, paper, and so on, we’ll also start using new collection vehicles designed to keep these materials separate. Because of these changes, it made sense to review our collection routes at the same time.

When we reviewed our collection routes, we considered several other things like where new homes are being built, changes to roads, changes to environmental laws, pressure on the council’s budget, and reducing carbon emissions.

After considering all the options available, the most efficient and cost-effective method to deliver these improvements to our service means we must change some collection days.

If your home isn’t changing to the new Separated Recycling collections service this year, your collection day might still change from mid-late autumn 2026. In October, we’ll send you a letter confirming your collection days and a calendar showing your collection dates from the autumn. 

You can also check your collection day and dates at any time, and download your collections calendar, here.

You can also sign up to receive collection reminders by email or text.

Although only residents living mainly in the west of the county will start using the new recycling sacks and bags, and specialist vehicles, later this year, we’ve had to change collection routes and days across the whole county at the same time. By making these changes together, we only need to update routes once, helping us work as efficiently as possible and reduces disruption in the future.

Yes, you can sign up to receive collection reminders by email or text.

You can also check your collection day and dates at any time, and download your collections calendar, here. 

In 2021, we issued a survey to consult all residents about the changes we planned to make to the recycling and non-recyclable waste collections services we provide to you.

Read the Consultation Report

The new sacks we’re planning to give you are similar to those being used by other councils across Wales, most of which have been large enough that residents haven’t needed extra ones.

However, if, after a few weeks of using the new service, you feel you need an extra sack(s) or other container(s) for your recycling, you may order it/them here.

Please remember to save space in your sacks by safely washing and squashing your metal, plastic and carton items where possible, and cutting cardboard, to ensure they fit.

We will continue to deliver your annual supply of food waste caddy liners in the autumn, but you can request more if needed.

If your home is changing to the new Separated Recycling collections service from mid-late autumn 2026:

• Until you change to the new service, you can still order caddy liners online.
• From your first day on the new service, you won’t need to order liners online. Just tie a liner around your food bin handle, and on your next collection day we’ll leave a new roll on or next to your food bin. Our new collection vehicles will have space to carry spare liners, so we can give them to homes that need them when we collect recycling.

If your home isn’t changing to the new Separated Recycling collections service this year:

• You may continue to order caddy liners online.

Before the changes take place where you live, we’ll send you an information pack that will include a booklet explaining which household items go in each sack (as well as your other existing containers) and how to put your recycling out on your collection day. We’ll also include a shorter ‘quick guide’ showing you what goes where.

We’ll also update our online A-Z Recycling Guide to show you what goes in each sack.

When the changes start in your area, we’ll also begin collecting plastic bags & wrapping from your home . 

We’ll give you a roll of single-use red bags for these items, alongside your new sacks for your other recycling. The booklet we give you will also explain the types of items you should put in your bags and how to put your filled bag out for collection.

Until we start collecting plastic bags & wrapping where you live, please continue taking your plastic bags and wrapping to recycling collection points, such as those at supermarkets. You can find your nearest drop-off point on the Wales Recycles website.

Please note that the items accepted may vary between locations, so follow the guidance provided at each recycling point. 

If you can’t take these items to a recycling point, please put them in your black bags until we start collecting these items in your area.

If someone living in your home uses single-use nappies, you may sign up to our free hygiene and nappy waste collections service. Once registered, we’ll collect these items from your home every two weeks.

Find more information about our hygiene and nappy waste collections service or to sign up here.

If someone living in your home uses incontinence products – such as disposable bed pans and liners, incontinence pads, or bed or chair pads – or colostomy/stoma bags, catheter bags or urine bottles, or single-use aprons or gloves – you may sign up to our free hygiene and nappy waste collections service. Once registered, we’ll collect these items from your home every two weeks.

Find for more information about our hygiene and nappy waste collections service, or to sign up, here.

Until you receive your new recycling sacks and bags, and information pack, please continue to present your recycling and non-recyclable waste in the usual way.

For now, if you’re not sure what you can and can’t recycle from home using your current recycling containers, find more information using our A-Z Recycling Guide.

Please remember to tie your liners and bags securely, and close the lids on your caddies and bins, to prevent their contents from escaping, then place your containers at your usual collection point by 6am on your collection day.

If you need any help with sorting your waste and recycling, or you have any questions about the services we provide, visit our Contact Us page. 

If you can’t put your recycling and non-recyclable waste out for collection because of limited mobility, and no one else can help you, you may apply for an assisted waste collections service. 

This service lets us collect your recycling and non-recyclable waste from a place closer to your home. You’ll need to apply first, then we’ll need to check your property before we can provide the service.

To apply for assisted waste collections, please contact us.

If you already receive assisted waste collections, this will automatically continue after the changes to your recycling collections take place where you live.

Visit My Recycling Wales to find out what happens to your recycling and non-recyclable waste after we collect it.

You can recycle a wide range of items at your local recycling centre. For information about your local recycling centre, its opening times, any vehicle size restrictions, and what you might have to do before visiting, visit the Recycling Centres page.

If the items you take to your local recycling centre are in good condition and could potentially be reused instead of recycled, we may take them to Canolfan Eto, our repair and reuse project. There, our staff will check items, carry out any repairs as needed, then put them up for sale. 

Eto helps everyone in Carmarthenshire to be more sustainable, cut down on waste, and give a second life to perfectly good items. Reusing is a great way to save the energy used from making new products, helping to reduce your carbon footprint and do your bit to protect the environment.

More information about Canolfan Eto

We offer a bulky waste collections service. This service is available to residents who want to get rid of unwanted household items, such as beds, carpets, fridges, freezers and wardrobes. We can collect these items from your home for a small fee.

Information about our bulky waste collections service

We use different vehicles to collect your recycling and non-recyclable waste. Whilst we collect some items on the same day, like glass bottles & jars and black bags, we collect them on different vehicles at different times between 6am and 2pm.

If we’ve not collected some of your recycling or non-recyclable waste by 2pm on your usual collection day, please contact us.

But if you see a tag on one or more of your containers that we’ve not collected or emptied by 2pm on your collection day, it’s likely we haven’t missed it. Instead, we might not have collected or emptied it because it contains an item(s) that shouldn’t be in there.

If this happens, check the sticker or tag and follow the instructions. You’ll usually need to remove the wrong item(s) then put your container out again on your next collection day.

If you’re not sure what the wrong item is / items are, see our list of common household items and where you should put them or contact us.

Please remember that we collect different types of recycling and non-recyclable waste on different schedules. For example, whilst we collect your food waste and recycling every week, we collect your black bags for non-recyclable waste every three weeks. You can check all your collection dates at any time, and download your collections calendar, here.

You can also sign up to receive collection reminders by email or text.

It’s important you put the correct items in the correct containers, and that your recycling containers don’t contain materials that can’t be recycled. However, we recognise anyone can make a mistake.

If you put out a container that’s too full or too heavy, or it includes items that shouldn’t be there, our crews will place a sticker/tag on it asking you to correctly sort its contents in time for your next collection.

If you’re not sure what the wrong item is / items are, see our list of common household items and where you should put them or contact us.

If you realise you’ve put something in the wrong container after we’ve collected your recycling, please don’t worry – just try to remember to get it right next time. Please also remember to remove the tag from your container then put it in your black bags (if a sticker) or blue bag / orange sack (if a tag).

If you have any spare single-use blue bags after you start using your new recycling containers from mid-late autumn 2026, please give them to family or friends in other areas of Carmarthenshire who aren’t yet using the new service.

Surplus stocks of blue bags can also be returned to any of the Council’s Hwbs in Carmarthen, Llanelli or Ammanford.

The new recycling sacks are reusable and designed to be easy to use. 

When they are delivered, the sacks will come as one bundle. The full bundle weighs about 3.75kg.  

We will try to deliver the sacks as close to your front door as possible. 

Once you receive them, simply untie or cut the strap with household scissors and separate the sacks. You do not need to carry or store them as one bundle. Each sack can be carried, used and stored separately. 

You can recycle the strap by putting it in your current blue bags. 

We understand the new recycling service may be more challenging for some people. 

If you have a disability, medical condition, learning disability, dementia, visual impairment, or another condition that makes it difficult to manage your recycling, please contact us. We will discuss your needs and any support that may be available.

Assisted Waste Collection