Cardiff Council Continues Mixing Separated Recycling Despite Sack-Sort Scheme

Rotherham Council continues to face challenges with its waste collection services, leading to a reduced garden waste collection schedule running every four weeks instead of biweekly, as the council seeks to prioritize household waste and recycling amid staffing issues. Meanwhile, Cardiff Council's new sack-sort recycling scheme, introduced to improve recycling quality by requiring residents to separate materials into different colored sacks, has encountered persistent operational problems, with recycling sometimes being mixed in the same lorry despite separation efforts. Cardiff Council acknowledges this occasional mixing but maintains it does not materially affect overall recycling performance, which has improved to 64% in 2024/25, with dry recycling reaching its highest proportion since 2018-19. Residents and councillors have expressed concerns about the practicality and confusion caused by the new system, including storage space for sacks, bags blowing away, and the potential misunderstanding among vulnerable groups. Videos shared by residents like Rahim Mustafa highlight public unease about the inconsistency between separating recycling at home and the subsequent mixing during collection. Both councils are communicating updates and working to resolve issues while emphasizing improvements and continued commitment to reliable waste management services.