Keeping a Lid On It Week In Week Out

It is the end of September and villages here are

putting out the bins.

Are you all right?

Yeah.

It's going to be a nightmare, isn't it?

They have been told that things are changing.

The bin is full to the brim after a fortnight.

So, four weeks and we are going to be struggling.

Their rubbish will be collected once a month now,

rather than every fortnight.

It has not gone down well.

Two weeks you can just about manage,

but four weeks?

No way.

Local authorities are under pressure to increase the amount they recycle.

So, one council has decided to take radical action.

We are not providing a refuge collection system.

We need to think more of a recycling collection system.

Some think it is a step too far.

It is awful.

There is just a build up of rubbish everywhere.

What people are doing because they can't get rid

of their rubbish any more.

We follow families as they find their own ways

through the new restrictions.

I have just lit the fire now and the rubbish is about to burn.

Here comes the smoke.

Tonight we ask are councils about to get tougher with all of us?

And we reveal how their own methods are coming under scrutiny.

You've got a rejection rate of about 21%.

That is a high figure.

It is 7am.

The Betws?Yn Rhos crew is out to pick up the bins.

The last time for four weeks.

Roast dinner tonight for tea.

Yeah, let's put some pork in.

Lovely.

We gave two families some cameras to record how they get

on with the new regime.

I don't know how we're going to do it is to be honest.

Fiona Roberts and her son Junior are part of a big family.

We are a family of six.

Junior has three sisters and there are two pets.

They have had permission for two bends from the council.

They doubt they will be enough.

It is going to be terrible for us.

I think we are going to have to perhaps burn or...

Do not think it will work.

It is too long.

No.

Over on the other side of the village are the MacPhersons.

A family of five.

They are slightly more confident they can manage.

They are already getting the kids in line.

That is about a couple of days worth.

That is quite a bit of rubbish there.

They are kids, aren't they?

Family of five.

We recycle as much as we can, don't we?

I think it is going to mean we have to take several trips to the tip

to get rid of the rubbish.

We will give it a go.

We will give it the best we can.

We have no choice in the matter.

The council is trialling these four weekly collections in a fifth

of Conwy's households.

Surveys have found that almost half of what people put

in their bins can be recycled.

The council think people will have to recycle more when they see

when they see their bins filling up.

We will be back to find out.

It was not so long ago that we've just put all of rubbish in a big bin

and it got carted off to the local tip.

But these holes in the ground have been filling up fast.

The Welsh Government have been taxing councils for every ton

they dump in them.

This is actually recycling.

This is the material that has come out of the re-cycling

bags and been collected.

Most of it is recyclable.

Some of it is not.

The team now, they are sorting through the material,

pulling out the recyclables.

The things that can't be recycled then go along the end of the line

and go off the belt.

Recycling is now a big industry.

In Cynon Taf alone, 170 people are employed together and sort out

the household waste.

Last year, we have 60% recycling which was up by quite a lot

on the previous year.

So far this year from April to August we have 67.4%.

We're hoping at some stage this year, we will touch the 70%

which is the target for 24, 25.

Almost half of Welsh councils, including Cynon Taf, ask people

to put their recycling in one mixed bag.

It is known as combing.

The rest ask people to sort out the rubbish before it is collected.

That is called kerb-side sort.

That is what they do in Conwy, where our families live.

In Betws?Yn Rhos, the MacPhersons can see their black bin filling up,

so they are thinking hard about exactly where

to put their waste.

OK, I am just going to dispose of these.

They've seen better days.

Instead of putting them in the bin outside, I'm going to put them

into the green garden waste recycling to save room.

They can go in there along with the rest of the other flowers

that have gone in there.

The Roberts have found it more of a struggle.

It is getting worse already, isn't it?

It is hard work.

Junior is worrying that their bins are filling up too fast.

The recycling is getting full.

This is the second week of the bins.

This one is almost full.

We've got another two weeks to go.

Junior and his mother say they are doing their bit,

but the sisters aren't.

I'm always getting things out of the bin.

Yeah, it always seems like a bit of a one-sided thing.

The girls are like, just put it in the bin.

We have to sort through.

It is quite annoying.

A recent survey suggests that people think there is not enough

information about how to recycle and they are confused by the fact

that some councils in Wales make you sort out recycling more

thoroughly than others.

Refuse disposal has definitely become more sophisticated.

What seems to annoy people most though is when the system is changed

as it has been in Newport.

We've got the normal bin there.

That is your standard waste.

General waste.

You have got another bin for your garden waste.

You have got the blue box which is for paper waste.

The green box is for recycling.

A new red bag has been introduced, replacing the green one

and they have changed what goes into the boxes.

Businessman Tom is so frustrated about

the new system he has started a petition.

Nobody has an issue with recycling.

It is just the way it is done.

Other areas, they have only two or three boxes.

Two or three bins.

It is simple and people have no problem with that.

It is just introducing more containers and more containers.

A very simple system is to bends and two boxes.

The Cardiff system.

Very simple system.

Newport council insists that there system is very simple.

It has only been changed because more things

can be recycled now.

They say of all the materials were collected in one bag

like in some other authorities, it would cost them a lot more

to sort out.

And result in a much lower quality product.

We get the best possible price for our materials coming out

of here because they are very clean.

They are clearly separated and they are pure.

The one thing you do not want is something like glass getting

into your paper.

The paper Mills will just reject it.

They will have to send it somewhere else.

Our whole business model, it is likely built on quality

materials coming out of here.

The result is almost 100% of the stuff that is collected

being successfully sold on.

Newport has been a pioneer in waste saving but it's recycling rates have

fallen behind most other Welsh councils.

Is their state-of-the-art system too complicated?

The Welsh local government Association represents

all councils in Wales.

We want our public to recycle as much as possible

and use our service.

We've got to make it as easy for them.

On the other hand, industry want a really clean, quality product

with minimal sorting.

What the councils will do is decide where they put

themselves in the spectrum.

There is pros and cons in every system.

Newport and others must now report to Welsh Government and explain why

they shouldn't be fined for missing last year's recycling target of 58%.

Back in Conwy, the MacPhersons and the Roberts are now half way

in and are facing some challenges.

There we go.

This is how we're going to dispose of all this packaging.

We're on the third week and one bin is full and one bill

is three quarters full.

The plastic one.

Pretty full.

Full to the brim, really.

As you can see, we have pretty much filled the plastic and metals up.

Here is our recycling for the week.

Rosie has also filmed something more disturbing.

I have just pulled over in a lay-by.

This is the road coming into the village.

Sadly, I have just spotted fly-tipping.

Which I think is going to be a sign of things to come.

Nearly all the ten councils that use a simpler system are getting

better recycling rates than the kerb-side sort method.

We have discovered that they have a problem.

We have obtained figures showing that on average, out of every seven

tonnes of recycling collected, one is being rejected.

The rejected material gets incinerated here in this waste

to energy plant in Cardiff or it ends up in landfill.

Here in Cynon Taf, one in every five tonnes are rejected

because of so-called contamination.

It is what you call contaminants.

Contaminants could be food waste which dirty the material or it

could be a crisp packet, which is something we cannot recycle.

Stick it on the back because it is contaminated.

They have the highest rejection rate of any council,

so they are coming down hard on people who put the wrong

things in their bags.

You have got a rejection rate of about 21%.

Are you concerned about that?

It is a high figure.

It is a high figure, but obviously a lot of that contamination

is non-recyclable materials.

We do and we are going into an awareness campaign where we

try to educate the residence even more so we can reduce that further.

Ultimately, we try and make the system as simple as possible

for our residents.

Welsh Government told us that they were concerned

about the level of rejected recycling which is why

they are urging all councils to use kerb-side sort.

Cynon Taf insist though that councils should be left to decide

to decide for themselves and the Welsh Local Government

Association agreed that.

Every council has the responsibility to collect and decide

on its own waste.

So, they will come up with a system which is right, they

believe, for the area.

There are pros and cons with every single service.

In Conwy, the council's collecting the recycling each week as normal.

In Junior's rubbish bins we noticed things that shouldn't be there.

So, he agreed to come with us to learn more about the dos

and don'ts of managing your waste.

In a sign of how some councils are clamping down, people

people arriving here with black bags and are not allowed to dump them.

Unless they go through them first with a supervisor.

Junior is about to find out where they have been going wrong.

We have got a lot of items that can be recycled.

Plastic bags, cardboard cartons, food packaging.

Any fabrics come anything like this, straight into the household waste.

These are a nuisance.

We have to burn a lot of times.

They go straight into the general waste.

We get a lot of polystyrene takeaway boxes.

They have to go into the household waste because they cannot

be recycled.

It is just a case of getting into a routine of it.

It makes you think, doesn't it?

It is not hard, but saying that I've got three sisters

and they don't care.

They just leave it to me.

It is getting the whole household the routine.

It all adds up.

We have gone as far as we can go with this.

We've taken all the recyclables out.

It's shows the difference it makes on how much more room

you would have.

In fact, they had got the amount down by 70%.

Junior is now allowed to tip the rest.

That was a very interesting

experience for me.

Yes.

Why?

Because it's made me learn just how much you can recycle and how much

is actually available for you to do.

You know, I think a lot of the time it's what people

don't know so they're not going to bother doing it.

He wasn't the only one having his rubbish examined.

Michelle Coombes is a regular here.

What does she think about the new monthly collection?

I think it's awful.

There's just a build-up of rubbish everywhere.

What people are having, because they can't get rid

of their rubbish any more.

It's going to cause rats and it's going to cause everything now.

It's really bad, it really is.

People's gardens are just getting full of bags, seagulls are coming

and ripping all the bags open.

And you're only two and a half weeks in?

Yes.

Is that why you have brought the extra stuff down

here, is it?

Yes, I come every day.

Every day?

Yes.

You're producing a lot of rubbish.

Well, yes.

You've got children as well and your wheelie bin is full,

what do you do with it?

Yes, she's in here, I would say, most days,

around about quarter past five, and as you can see

from her emptying that bag,

probably 70% of the items in that bag was recycling.

So people really could be doing a lot more,

they don't know it, do they?

No, I'm not sure if they don't know it, it's more whether they can be

bothered to recycle.

Michelle lives in Kinmel Bay nearby.

We wanted to find out why she wasn't recycling enough.

You can't recycle any more if your bin is full and you've

already recycled, can you?

The bins are all full.

Recycled everything, cans, bottles, plastics,

cardboard, and they're all full.

So what do you do then?

She lives here with five children, at least a dozen dogs

and various other animals.

Take that one outside.

I'll have to put another bag in the bin.

That's not going to fit outside now, is it?

No, I will have to do a tip run again.

I know, yes.

They're cutting back that much now that it's all going worse,

everything is going worse.

And they complain about rubbish and people dumping things

and what have you, well they are going to get more

of it now, aren't they?

People are going to be dumping it everywhere because they can't

get rid of the rubbish.

Michelle could ask the council for more recycling boxes

and another wheelie bin, given the size of the household.

Even if I have two bins, it wouldn't solve my problem

because that would be full in a couple of days

and you've still got the bags so it wouldn't solve anything.

It's the fact they are not emptying them regular.

Obviously we appreciate they are a household

with lots of people in, and we will meet that

by providing two bins, and pick up two bins

at the time of collection.

But whenever you get change, you get complaints.

When we examined the bin, the big black bin which households

use for waste, recyclates were in there to the tune of almost 40, 50%.

That represented a cost to this council of ?1.6 million, which is

absurd and could not be justified.

Some suspect councils are changing waste collections

only to save money.

Conwy denies this.

This is something that, without the challenge of austerity,

we would have done anyway.

Conwy prides itself on being green.

Conwy prides itself on not wasting money and this is a classic example

of wasting public money.

However able or willing they are to recycle,

all our families have noticed just how rubbish

their lives can generate.

On Saturday night, the MacPhersons always order in.

That means more packaging.

Where does this go?

Does this go in with cans?

It is, it's aluminium, isn't it?

I think before, we just used to bag it all up and put it back in the bag

it was delivered in, and put it in the bin I think.

Looking harder at the latest government statistics,

you could see that, despite Wales' success in raising recycling rates,

councils handled more waste last year because Welsh households

produced more rubbish.

For one thing, the amount of packaging keeps increasing.

Over the last five years, the number of units of packaging

for beauty products, for example, has gone

up by 20% worldwide.

Junior's sisters, including Kelly, are using a lot of cosmetics now.

Now that my little sisters are growing, one is 18,

nearly 19, and the other one has just turned 15 so she's

into her make-up as well.

At least some of the packaging can be recycled.

That's empty, that needs to go in recycling.

We go through a lot with our wipes and things we use, and everything

has got plastic on it so it is hard to get into it.

The number of units of packaging in most industries

is increasing in the UK.

Even if we can recycle it all, can we and our

councils keep up with it?

We have seen an increase in waste since we've come out of recession.

People are buying more, they are changing more products,

and that's always a sign of wealth.

There is still things the industry can do.

Whereas the councils have to work to statutory regimes,

industry only has to have voluntary targets.

They are doing their bit and there has been massive

changes, but do councils think they can do more?

The answer is yes.

One of the biggest targets of criticism

is the disposable coffee cup.

We throw away hundreds of millions of them every year.

They are made from paper and a layer of plastic.

Great for protecting hands from hot liquid but hard to recycle and

end up in landfill or incinerators.

Campaigners are calling on the chains to do more, and

one based in Cardiff already has.

While a lot of cups are made with a plastic lining on the inside,

this is made from a plant starch lining, which means

it is compostable after about three months.

The same what you find with a lot of places,

the lid will be plastic, whereas this again

is plant starch, which means it is compostable over time.

It does mean it's a slightly reduced profit margin.

Campaigners say the coffee chains should follow this example and also

do more to encourage people to bring in their own reusable cups.

So, why is the amount of packaging going up?

And why isn't the industry doing something about it?

The population has increased by 4% in the last five years

so we all need more things.

The majority of packaging really is doing, er, carrying

information about the product, much of which is required by law,

it is protecting the product, it's making sure with food that

you've got sufficient shelf life and you don't end

up wasting the food.

And how does she defend the coffee cups that are so hard to recycle?

More and more people want an on-the-go drink, they want to be

able to have it immediately.

We could turn the clock back, we could live like our grandparents

did and we could make everything from scratch.

We could actually make up a thermos flask of coffee in the morning,

take it with us all day, not have food and drink

on the go, but that's not the way society is going.

Jane's organisation works with several sectors

of the packaging industry.

Could they do more?

Always, and they do.

They want to do more to improve packaging both

environmentally and socially.

Back in Betws Yn Rhos, Junior is resorting to drastic

methods to get rid of the Roberts' latest bag of waste.

OK, so here I am in the back garden and I'm about to burn some rubbish

to save on our recycling bin.

Classic, polystyrene.

We had a takeaway last night.

And with us being a family of six, there's quite a bit in there.

I have just lit the fire and the rubbish is about to burn.

Here comes the smoke.

Look at that.

That can't be healthy for the planet.

Burning polystyrene in the back garden is probably not

what Conwy Council had in mind when they cut back

on bin collections.

Nine times out of ten, when there's polystyrene out there,

the smoke is really, really bad and it stinks as well.

Meanwhile, the Coombes family are on their way

to the tip yet again.

It's the same drill when she arrives this time.

Any black bags have to be taken over to the re-sort table.

I'll take them over with you now.

At this site, they've got much busier since the council moved

the monthly black bin collections.

The amount of general waste we do get in, our compactive figures

are going through the roof, hence why we have been forced this,

and it is working.

But if more people are getting in their cars, where's

the environmental benefit now?

If people recycle more at home, it's going to make more room

in their black bin and they are not going to have to come

here that often.

Wales is now one of the best in Europe at recycling its rubbish,

with 60% of municipal waste getting processed and sold on to companies

who can use the paper, metal, glass and plastics we throw away.

We have made huge strides in turning unwanted material back

into resources, so it's the right thing to do and it's

just a no-brainer.

The Welsh government wants councils to recycle even more

so the pressure is on.

Cynon Taf, for example, have just launched a new campaign

to increase recycling

and they are threatening fines.

Some wonder if it's just a way for a cash-strapped authority to get

some extra money in, but the council says if it doesn't

hit Welsh government targets, it will be fined, and the WLGA

thinks we will see more councils resorting to fines in the future.

It's now been a month, and the people of Betws?Yn Rhos can

put out their wheelie bins at last.

Will they take all that, do you think?

They've got no choice, have they?

It is a month's waste, so...

got no choice.

The Roberts' bins aren't as full as they thought, but bear in mind

Junior took one to the tip and they've been burning quite

a bit, and there was an unexpected bonus when a bin lorry

turned up by mistake.

We actually had them emptied last week.

It was the third week and they came very early.

My sister noticed, she put them out quickly and they emptied the bins.

You haven't been able to improve or increase the amount of recycling

you've been doing then?

No, not really, no, because we were doing

the maximum before.

When we went to the landfill, and we sorted out all the waste,

I think if we hadn't have gone there, then I think we definitely

will have struggled.

It really does seem impossible, being a family of six.

So, have you filled that bin, Rosie?

It's pretty much full to the brim.

But not bad, I don't think, after 28 days really.

How have you found it on the whole?

On the whole we have managed quite well.

I'm surprised how well we have managed.

The village of Betws?Yn Rhos has been part of an experiment affecting

10,000 people in Conwy.

How does the council think it's been going?

It is very pleasing to tell you today that the initial data

we are collecting on the impact of the first cycle of this

is quite astounding.

Recyclates have gone up, the community are getting involved.

It is something I'm really proud to be identified with.

At last, it's bin day.

Only a minority of the bins look overfull, so what's

the crew noticed?

Been quite light really.

A lot less rubbish than what we expected.

The council will give it a year before deciding what to do next,

including the possibility of putting everyone in the county

onto monthly collections.

What is for sure is that people in Wales can expect councils to keep

bearing down on waste.

What do our villagers think about that?

Family of six, I wouldn't have touched it, definitely.

It's too long.

I'm going to have to jump in the bin up and down to squash it all down.

I'm going to have to jump in the bin up and down to squash it all down.

Would you still prefer to go back down to two weekly?

Of course because it has been something we have had to concentrate

on and very much been at the forefront of our minds,

so yes, we much prefer the two weekly collection, but because we've

been so careful, that's how we've managed so well,

I think.

Do you think you can manage though with four weekly?

We are going to have to.

We've got no choice, have we?