Payments from product makers that generate recycling waste have protected bin lorry crew jobs

Money that comes from the makers of products that generate recycling waste, such as plastic bottles, has saved frontline jobs in Powys.

At a joint meeting of Powys County Council’s Governance and Audit (GAC) and Economy, Residents and Communities committees on Wednesday, October 21, councillors and an independent lay member received a follow-up report following a review of the waste and recycling route optimisation programme, which was rolled out earlier this year.

The roll-out of new collection routes in March saw rubbish and recycling left uncollected for days on end, causing anger among residents.

The situation has now improved as the routes settle down.

The joint committee meeting took place to probe the financial side of the route optimisation, as not enough information had been provided for the meeting in July.

One of the key reasons for the route optimisation is to save £105,000 for the council.

The saving of £52,500 over two years had been included as a cost-saving proposal in the 2023/2024 budget.

As the meeting progressed, lay members and councillors found it difficult to understand how money from Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) was being used to subsidise the service budget.

EPR is a payment made by producers of waste, such as plastic, to the Welsh Government, which is then shared out to local authorities to help fund recycling collections.

The EPR funding is added to the allocation for the service from the budget, which for last year was £8.358 million.

GAC vice-chairman and independent lay member John Brautigam said: “Does the EPR money come to us in a grant and if it does are any restrictions placed upon it on how we use the money?”

Head of highways, transport and recycling John Forsey said: “It’s a lump sum from the Welsh Government and we receive about £4.6 million.

“That is to be used to provide an efficient and effective waste collection service – we can use it on vehicles, staffing.”

Mr Brautigam asked how this funding had been stripped down from £4.6 million to a “very precise number” of £1,711,513 in 2025.

Senior waste and recycling manager Ashley Collins explained that a lot of the money above £1.7 million would be used to fund capital projects, such as improvements at Brecon waste transfer station, and waste awareness advisers to help improve recycling rates, which would not be covered in this report.

“This is purely about the route and collection,” stressed Mr Collins.

Of the £1.7 million, just over £972,000 will be put into reserves, set aside to be used to fund wages and overheads in the future.

Councillor Chris Walsh (Labour – Brecon East) said: “I seek further clarity – where is the £972,000?”

He pointed out that the figure did not appear in the funding table for 2026, as he would have expected it to do.

Rather, the figure of £400,000 to be put into reserves was there.

Mr Forsey said: “We need to try and separate EPR and route optimisation.

“We were going to do route optimisation as a budget-saving proposal of £105,000, which would have meant the reduction of one crew and vehicle across the fleet.”

This saving had been “achieved”, he said.

Mr Forsey continued: “But when we bring in the EPR element we’ve chosen to invest more in the service and its resilience.”

This means that the base budget has been reduced by £105,000, while the crew and lorry are now paid for by EPR money.

Cllr Walsh said: “It would be helpful to see the whole picture and not just component parts.”

Director of corporate services and section 151 officer Jane Thomas said: “The way we’ve recorded this is standard accounting reporting, the reserves is not reported in this table.

“Some more narrative would have been helpful to explain the data you’re seeing.”

Recommendations and comments from the joint committee will be provided to Cabinet.