Powys County Council considers plans to collect rubbish every three weeks

Plans to collect rubbish once every three weeks were expected to be given the green light today.

Powys County Council said it is reducing collections in a bid to save almost half a million pounds and meet strict Welsh Assembly recycling targets.

The council said that by collecting waste and recycling only once every three weeks it will save £480,000.

Currently the council collects rubbish fortnightly, which is mirrored in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

Powys County Council's cabinet was meeting today in Llandrindod Wells to sign off the plans.

Councillor John Powell, cabinet member for waste and recycling, said: "Powys County Council is committed to maximising the effectiveness of how we collect and treat waste.

"The new kerbside recycling collection service across the whole of Powys has been rolled out since January, with many areas having received this service since 2010.

"This is to facilitate Powys meeting the stringent statutory targets set by the Welsh Government, which for 2015/16 is 58 per cent.

"Failure to meet these targets will potentially result in considerable fines to the authority of £200 per tonne for each tonne below the target, as well as reputational damage."

He added: "The council currently faces unprecedented challenges in terms of the management of its finances with a requirement to make savings of £27 million across all services over the next three years.

"This includes a proposed 50 per cent reduction in the net controllable budget for the highways, transport and recycling service."

Councillor Powell said since the budget situation became apparent, the option of three weekly collections has been considered in greater depth.

"A consultation exercise was undertaken and around 1,800 comments and views were received," he said.

"There was interest from households who have children in nappies or those with incontinence waste for a separate collection service.

"A large percentage of these same residents were not sure they could then cope with their current wheeled bin in terms of capacity and waste created."

The cabinet was meeting at 1pm in County Hall, Llandrindod Wells.