Food Waste Collections in NPT

Neath Port Talbot Council's Food Waste collection is now well underway.

The service which initially is being introduced to 14,000 households this week is a new addition to weekly collections.

Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council, Ali Thomas joined the recycling team last week in Sandfields and met up with local resident Gerald Flynn, who already takes part in the kerbside scheme.

He said, "The new service has already been well received by residents. It is an excellent addition to the kerbside recycling scheme which has already proved a success across the county borough. In Wales, we throw away 330,000 tonnes of food waste each year, so this scheme can now help to reduce this.

"All households across Neath Port Talbot will in due course be offered the service and I urge residents to take part as this will make an enormous difference to the amount of food waste we through away."

There will be no change to collection days as the food waste will be picked up on the same day as normal refuse and recycling.

Residents in the initial phase of the roll out have already been given instructions on what to do. A small kitchen caddy, a roll of biodegradable caddy liners and a larger 22 litre food bin have also been delivered to households.

If residents run out of caddy liners then all they have to do is lift the yellow flag on the outside bin and the recycling team will drop off more.

The separate collection and treatment of food waste in Neath Port Talbot will help towards preventing the release of greenhouse gases and contribute towards the Council meeting its future statutory targets for diverting biodegradable waste from landfill.

Householders may also be aware that the Council offers home composting bins for sale. Home composting is an easy way to turn garden waste and uncooked fruit and vegetable food waste into a useful product for use in the garden.

Photograph: Waste operative Alan Freeman (right)) collecting a container with food waste from home owner Gerald Flynn (middle) with Ali Thomas, Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council (left) in Crimson Avenue, Port Talbot.