SIR,

I would like to respond to the questions raised in the Beacon about why Monmouthshire County Council collects recycling in two different bags and yet puts them in the same lorry.

Before I go into the detail I first of all want to really thank Monmouthshire residents for their recycling efforts.

A few years ago Monmouthshire was recycling about 30 per cent of its waste. Last year we recycled 48 per cent and it looks like this year we will be recycling about 54 per cent of all the waste that is collected. We would love to recycle more.

The council's performance is actually the performance of our residents. We are reliant on the good will of residents separating their recycling and their food waste from the rubbish bag so this becomes smaller and smaller as the others become larger and larger, and thereby improving everyone's recycling performance year on year.

I want to reassure residents that there is no need to be suspicious of our actions. Our method of collection does have a rationale behind it.

In one bag we collect what in the waste world we call fibres (paper, card, shredded paper and tetrapaks).

In the other bag we collect containers (glass, plastics, foil).

Unfortunately not all recycling material has a value and in the past councils have had to pay for recycling to be managed.

There is more value in the paper, and paper is worth something when it is kept dry and isn't turned to mush by water from other items being put out for recycling (such as washed-out cans).

By asking residents to separate the fibres from the containers we are retaining the value in the paper and this keeps our costs down when offering our recycling to the market.

The bags are taken to a specialist recycling facility whereby the bags are sorted, opened and the recycling extracted by technical processes.

The recycling is placed on a conveyor belt and processes are used to extract the materials one at a time.

For example paper will be blown-off, magnets will be used for the metals, flotation tanks used for plastics etc.

In terms of how much of the collected recycling goes to landfill – that is an easy one for me to answer as it is heavily monitored and regulated by ourselves and also the Environment Agency.

Currently about eight per cent of what is collected in the recycling bags is then sent for disposal, but this doesn't always mean landfill. Sometimes it is sent on to produce energy.

This eight per cent isn't recyclable as we do have contamination in the bags whereby people get confused over what can and cannot be recycle and so err on the side of caution and put it in just in case.

At no point is anything which is recyclable sent onto landfill. We are not allowed to claim recycling if it hasn't been recycled so we are not sending material to China to be burnt for cheap fuel.

I hope this explains why we do things the way we do. All feedback is welcomed and we want our recycling service to be as user friendly as possible to help achieve ever higher recycling.

Please Monmouthshire residents, keep on recycling.

Cllr Bryan Jones

(Cabinet Member, County Operations)