Any proposal to move black bin waste collections in Powys to a four-week monthly cycle will be subject to a public consultation first, a senior councillor has assured.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet on Tuesday, July 15, senior councillors received the draft five-year plan to deal with waste and recycling up to 2030, that the council has dubbed the “sustainable resource strategy.”

A three-month public engagement on the strategy ran from January to April, giving residents a chance to have their say on how waste and recycling will be managed in the county over the next five years – but fewer than 200 people responded.

The report also included an analysis of black bin “residual” waste from 2022. It showed that 45 per cent of the waste residents placed in black bins could have been recycled, and much of the strategy focuses on encouraging residents to recycle this material instead.

Part of the strategy involves changing black bin collections from every three weeks to every four weeks in an effort to encourage residents to recycle more of this 45 per cent.

Deputy council leader, Cllr Matthew Dorrance (Labour) said: “The report makes clear that one of the key things we need to do here is reduce waste going into residual (black bin) and increase our recycling.

“We all know that needs to happen but nonetheless it presents a significant challenge.

“There’s been much talk in the local media and residents contacting me about the change to kerbside residual (black bin) waste collections.”

Cllr Dorrance asked: “Just to clarify, this paper does not advocate that at this stage, any future consideration will be open to full engagement?”

Cabinet member for highways, transport and recycling, Cllr Jackie Charlton (Liberal Democrat) said: “You are quite right - any future changes we make will be open to full consultation.”

Cllr Charlton had “noted the headlines” and added that only “one line” in the strategy document had mentioned black bin collections.

She believed the publicity around the issue meant that people will have read the rest of the report and all the “other positive elements as well.”

Council leader Cllr Jake Berriman added: “It is a really exciting paper and I’m really pleased we can all get behind it.”

Cabinet then went ahead and unanimously agreed the strategy.

The strategy is an important document for the council, as it could form the basis of future business cases for Welsh Government funding to ensure that waste and recycling facilities are “up to spec” and capable of handling increased recycling in the future. The proposed changes also aim to help the council meet - and exceed - the Welsh Government’s 70 per cent recycling target.