AN update on developing a new recycling centre to sort items collected at the kerbside is to be provided to senior councillors behind closed doors.
Plans for the new centre, which is crucial to processing recycling and helping Torfaen Borough Council achieve Welsh Government targets, have been underway since 2024 when proposals to redesign its existing Ty Coch centre in Cwmbran were abandoned.
Members of the council’s Labour cabinet will be provided with an update on “recycling infrastructure proposals” in a confidential agenda item at their Tuesday, January 13 meeting at the Civic Centre in Pontypool.
No press or public
The cabinet will be advised to discuss the item without the press or public in attendance as it involves “information relating to the financial or business affairs” of a person or the authority itself, which is allowed under local government legislation.
A spokeswoman for Torfaen Borough Council said: “We can confirm that the report relates to the future recycling infrastructure requirements for Torfaen, which includes developing a new recycling transfer station to receive the kerbside collected recycling materials that are currently taken to the Ty Coch facility.”
A finance report for the same meeting, and which will be discussed in public, states the council expects to receive funding in the 2026/27 financial year under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme which compensates local authorities for costs associated with collecting and disposing of non-recyclable materials, such as plastic film and packaging.
‘A new waste transfer station’
Torfaen received around £2.5m under the scheme this year and thought it hasn’t been told how much it could receive in the new financial year it has a working assumption any funding left, after it has been used for waste education and enforcement and to meet inflation impacting the services, will be earmarked “for the capital scheme to create a new waste transfer station”.
In 2023 the council, which had failed to modernise its existing recycling centre in Ty Coch, Llantarnam, suggested reducing wheelie bin collections of non recyclable waste to just once every three weeks as a way of boosting recycling.
But that was dropped following a public backlash and internal arguments that saw one councillor quit the ruling Labour group, with council leader Anthony Hunt promising a campaign to encourage residents to recycle instead.
Recycling and waste strategy
In April last year the council adopted a six-point recycling and waste strategy for 2025 to 2030 which also aims to reduce the amount of material that is thrown away.
Councillor Sue Morgan, who is responsible for waste collections, also stressed the importance of using the dedicated weekly food waste collection rather than putting leftovers in wheelie bins for general rubbish that are only emptied once a fortnight.
Food waste collections, which can be used to generate electricity, are counted towards the recycling target but, according to the council, accounts for much of its residual, or non-recyclable waste.
When the cabinet adopted its waste reduction strategy it warned it could face fines of up to £1m for failing to meet the 70 per cent recycling target that has been in place since April 2024.
Latest figures, for 2023/24, show Torfaen recycled 64 per cent of waste.
In June 2024 the council set aside £132,000 to cover the total cost of appointing a project manager to oversee development of a new recycling transfer station.
The council also awarded a contract, in December 2024, to FCC Environmental to operate its household recycling centre, in New Inn, which accepts garden waste, “residual waste” that cannot be recycled and street sweepings and other material collected by the council, as well as providing a household recycling facility for Torfaen residents.