Cardiff residents are being urged to continue to recycle their waste during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most residents are already doing so, but some are asking why they should continue to separate their recyclables into green bags when the city’s recycling waste is being taken to Viridor’s Energy Recovery Facility at Trident Park during the outbreak.
There are four key reasons why we need you to continue to recycle:
1. As soon as the crisis is over – normal recycling operations will resume. If you are recycling as normal we will be able to switch back with minimum fuss. Please don’t break the recycling habit. Once broken it’s harder to resume and we could switch back to normal service sooner than you might expect.
2. There won’t be enough room in your black wheelie bins for your general waste and your recyclable waste. Please keep them separate and identifiable as different types of waste.
3. Sending the majority of the city’s waste to Viridor’s facility is the safest option for residents and our crews during the ongoing crisis
4. The Energy Recovery Facility does recycle a proportion of waste which is put into the plant. This is through recycling the two residues which are produced through the process, which are bottom ash (materials that do not burn) and Fly Ash (residues collected through the flue gas treatment) and the removal and collection of metals after the combustion process.
Viridor, which owns and operates the Trident Park Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) in Cardiff, diverts in excess of 350,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste from landfill and generates 250GWh of electricity for the national grid – enough to power around 68,488 homes.
Cllr Michael Michael, Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Environment and Recycling at Cardiff Council said: “All waste types – with the exception of garden waste – are currently being collected weekly in one vehicle and this waste is being brought and treated at an Energy Recovery Facility.
“It is important to emphasise that this is only a temporary measure implemented toensure we can maintain a kerbside collection service across the citywhile supporting the health and welfare of the workforce and residents during the lockdown.
“The Energy Recovery Facility is unable to process green garden waste, as it causes significant operational difficulties for our contractor. This is why we are asking residents to store garden waste in their garden until the crisis is over. Put your food and hygiene waste into your black wheelie bins, and if you live in a red-striped bag area continue to use your brown food caddy for food waste.
“Our priority at the moment is to remove waste from the city’s streets as quickly and as safely as possible. We have to do this with reduced resources due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the extra help we are giving to the NHS. Our message to all residents is please continue to recycle your waste in the green bags provided it helps us, it helps your neighbours and it helps the city.”