Are you Keeping Up With The Joneses?

If you don’t recycle, you need to start now, or you may face a fixed penalty

That’s the clear message we’re putting out as we launch our new ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ campaign, focussing on those few households that currently recycle very little or nothing at all.

The new approach will see a renewed effort to get the minority of households that don’t yet recycle to start now.

“Most people recycle their rubbish, but now it’s time that everyone does” said Councillor David Hughes, Portfolio Member for Neighbourhood Services.

“When households don’t recycle every week, rubbish bins can overflow, making a mess and increasing the risk of problems with smells and other issues. This not only causes a
nuisance to the community, but costs time and money to clear up. Weekly collections of recyclables keep a street much cleaner - it’s nicer for everyone.”

“When people don’t recycle, we have to pay more than we need to get rid of the rubbish placed in black bins. Money which could have been spent delivering or improving services for the community, such as schools, libraries, housing, parks and social services, is instead spent on clearing up any mess created from overflowing bins, as well as paying for these unnecessary disposal costs.”

The cost to the Council of not recycling is significant, but also completely avoidable. When items that could be recycled end up in the bin, everyone in the community loses out.

“These are the reasons we’re focussing on those few households that - for whatever reason - have ignored the need to recycle so far”.

“We’ve made recycling easy. There are weekly collections from right outside the door for many items, including paper, card, cans, bottles, plastic pots, tubs and trays, glass jars, aerosols, food, textiles and small electrical/electronic items It really doesn’t take much time or effort to sort your items into the correct bags, bins and boxes. For most people in Merthyr Tydfil it’s already part of their routine”.

Residents can even ask for a member of the Council’s team to visit them in their home, to show them how to sort and recycle their rubbish. This service is especially important to support the most vulnerable people within our communities.

If any households ignore the support offered and continue to recycle very little or nothing at all, the Council will issue fixed penalty notices. This means the resident must pay a fixed penalty of £100 or appear in court.

Councillor Hughes continued, “We don’t want to take enforcement action, but it’s not fair on the whole community if a few households continue not to recycle what they can, if everyone else is.

“Don’t worry though – this will only affect those households who don’t make the effort to recycle much or anything at all."

“Everyone must recycle their rubbish responsibly. Those that aren’t doing so already should join their neighbours in doing this for their community. Remember to ‘Keep up with the Joneses!”

We are urging those that don’t recycle not to wait for a warning letter, but to get started straight away. You can contact us now to find out:

• What you can and can’t recycle
• What day of the week your recycling (and any other leftover rubbish that can’t be recycled) will be collected
• What bags, bins or boxes you may need if don’t already have them and where to order them for free using our website https://www.merthyr.gov.uk/resident/bins-and-recycling/
• What support the Council can give you – we’re here to help if you have any questions!

You can also follow this link for further information: https://www.merthyr.gov.uk/joneses