Recycle and keep up with the Jones'

The Council is the latest authority in Wales to join in the national Keeping Up With the Jones’ campaign, aimed at encouraging more people to recycle.

The campaign focusses on those households that currently rarely recycle or do not recycle at all and is one of a number of recycling initiatives launched in the county ahead of major changes to waste and recycling collections being introduced in 2021.

Leaflets that inform residents about the campaign have been delivered through letterboxes.   The leaflet explains why people should recycle, how to recycle and how people can access recycling receptables/ food bags if they don’t have any.

Over the coming months, those properties that do not recycle will receive a letter, querying the reasons and offered information and support to change their recycling behaviour.  Council staff will also be working in communities to show people how to sort and recycle properly.

The Council will have the option of issuing fixed penalty notices to individuals who continue to avoid recycling, but that will be the last resort

As part of the enforcement process residents who are reported as not recycling will be visited to offer support.  On occasion, the Council may identify a vulnerable or elderly householder who may not be able to recycle all the things expected of them and teams can work with them and their families or carers to recycle what is possible  and ensure that no enforcement action is taken under certain circumstances.

Councillor Brian Jones, Cabinet Lead Member for Highways, Environmental Impact, Waste and Sustainable Travel said: “Denbighshire’s recycling rates has reached 64% and we are amongst the best recyclers in the UK. That is great news for the environment and we thank residents for their great efforts.

“However, we expect the recycling target to increase to 70% and may even go further than that in future, so we need to be doing more.  There is greater expectations on Denbighshire to make sure it recycles more and that can only be done through working with communities and changing the recycling behaviour of those who do not recycle.

“The cost to the Council of not recycling is significant, but also completely avoidable. When items that could be recycled end up in the bin, everyone in the community loses out. These are the reasons we’re focussing on those few households that – for whatever reason – have ignored the need to recycle so far.

“We’ve made recycling easy. There are fortnightly collections from right outside the door for many items, including paper, card, cans, bottles, plastic pots tubs and trays, glass jars, aerosols, foil and food. When we roll-out our new waste collection model, we will increase this to a weekly collection.  There are also recycling parks at Rhyl, Denbigh and Ruthin, as well as monthly collections in Llangollen and Corwen.

“It really doesn’t take much time or effort to sort your items into the correct bags, bins and boxes, so we really hope that Denbighshire residents get behind us”.