This recycling week (17th-23rd October) we’re asking residents to ‘KEEP IT REAL’ for RCT!
Let’s keep it REAL and do everything we can to recycle as much as we can and ensure that we reduce our overall household waste.
This recycling week the national focus is to ‘KEEP IT REAL’ and focuses on the fact that we are real people, trying to do our best to make a difference in our homes, communities and across the world – In Wales, we are already MIGHTY recyclers and are number THREE in the world!
A recent survey carried out on Let’s Talk (the Council’s online engagement tool), showed that 100% of participants said that they use the Council’s recycling services, 97% said they do so weekly and 95% said they use the food waste recycling service - This is REAL news from REAL residents – which is great to hear!
Here’s the real stats - from April 2021 – April 2022 RCT residents recycled over 59,900 tonnes. The bad news is over 4,220 additional tonnes had to be thrown away due to contamination – that would have resulted in a further 6.5% being recycled and a wasted recycling effort!
A staggering 12,300 tonnes of food waste was collected during the same period – BUT over 482 tonnes were contaminated and also had to be thrown away! That’s nearly 4% more food waste that could have been recycled!
The good news is that out of the food waste that was recycled, enough energy was collected to power around 1180 homes!
If there is one thing that we can all look to do better, it’s to make sure we don’t waste our recycling efforts, by slipping at the sink and not rinsing items in leftover dishwater before we place items into the clear bags! That one tin, with the leftover bean juice, could see the whole bag of recycling wasted – or even worse it could ruin a whole lorry load once collected. It’s also really important to know what, where and how to recycle your household items – luckily in RCT there is an A-Z searchable online guide available 24/7 for residents to use!
Some items may not be recyclable at the kerbside but there are often other options…
Community Recycling Centres CRCs – There are SIX CRCs across the County Borough, that are open 7 days a week from 8am – 7.30pm (summer opening hours). All centres accept a large number of items, from hard plastics, to soil, wood and broken electricals. Full details can be found at www.rctcbc.gov.uk/CRCs.
Re-use Shops – There are three dedicated re-use shops, called ‘The Shed’ across the County Borough, with one based in each area of Rhondda, Cynon and Taf. These shops are open for donations to ensure that your unwanted items are given a new lease of life. They are also open for you to pick up a bargain and do your bit for the environment, by making used treasures available to the masses! From toys to table and chairs, the shed has got the lot! Full details can be found at www.rctcbc.gov.uk/TheShed.
Repair shops – The Council supports a number of local pop-up repair events and is looking to develop a regular area in the new ‘The Shed’ facility in Cannon Street, Aberdare.
Supermarkets – A number of local supermarkets offer carrier bag/soft plastic (e.g. bread bags) and even crisp packet recycling schemes, along with battery recycling. Don’t forget to check in your local store next time you shop.
Head to the trailer for advice - To help answer questions about what can and can’t be recycled in RCT, the Council’s promotional trailer will be heading to the following locations from 10am:
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Date/Time
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Location
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Wednesday 19th October
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Pontypridd Town Centre
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Thursday 20th October
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Aberdare Library
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Friday 21st October
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Asda, Tonypandy
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The team will be available to offer general recycling advice and give residents the chance to pick up their recycling essentials, from Clear bags to food bins.
Councillor Ann Crimmings, Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure, said:
“I would like to thank RCT residents for their HUGE recycling efforts, they have been fantastic. If we keep this up, we will hit the Welsh Governments target of 70% well before 2024/25 – well done RCT!
“The last few years have been exceptionally difficult for households across the County and I’m incredibly proud of our mighty residents for continuing to recycle, despite the recent and pending challenges.
“As a Council we do our best to make recycling easy and accessible for all – with a simple one bag system for dry recyclables. Our Community Recycling Centres are situated to within a few miles of each resident and are open 7 days a week, even bank holidays.
“We should continue to be proud of our recycling efforts, but there is still more we can do. We know our residents care about climate change and want to do all they can to make Wales and Rhondda Cynon Taf a cleaner and greener place. Together we can help to get Wales to number one and protect the planet by recycling more of the right things and reducing contamination every time.”
Throughout recycling week, the Council will be sharing daily facts on its social media channels on how you reduce contamination in your recycling and UP your recycling GAME!
Follow @RCTCouncil on Twitter and Facebook.
More information can also be found by visiting
www.rctcbc.gov.uk/recycling.
Posted on 17/10/2022