Source-separated recycling will come to Penarth next year after having been launched in the Rural Vale in 2019 and rolled out to Barry this week.

The system requires residents to separate their recycling into five material-specific containers – orange bag for cardboard, white for paper, blue for plastic and cans, grey caddy for glass, and green caddy for food.

The rubbish is then collected by bin lorries and carried to the Cowbridge "waste transfer station" before being taken off to various processing sites. If the containers are found to be "contaminated" by the wrong material, the bins will not be collected.

According to Cllr Peter King, Vale of Glamorgan Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services and Transport, the new system "means a greater proportion of the material can be recycled and so is a more efficient system.

"This will then be sold to UK markets that we source ourselves."

According to Vale of Glamorgan statistics, levels of contamination decreased dramatically when source-separated recycling hit the Rural Vale.

In 2019/20, the previous "co-mingled" service produced a contamination rate of 25%. This shrank to 3.13% during the first phase of the new system in the Rural Vale.

Source-separated recycling arrived in Barry on Monday (19 October). The response (unlike the recycling) has been mixed.

Bethan Thomas, the Waste Project Officer who effectively runs the scheme, tells Nub News how the new regime has been received so far:

"The feedback we have received so far from residents have been mixed – we have had a lot of residents embracing the changes and complimenting crews but at the same time our crews and wardens have reported receiving verbal abuse when out on the rounds."

She and Cllr King invited Nub News to visit the waste transfer station for a behind-the-scenes look at the new system (see video).