MONMOUTHSHIRE'S independent councillors are calling for all civic amenity sites within the county to accept red and purple bags.

In Monmouthshire, the red and purple bags are designated for kerbside only collection of items such as cardboard, glass, plastic bottles, paper, aerosols and similar items.

The council's independent members however feel that it would be far better if these bags could be deposited at local civic amenity sites, where people can already dispose of household waste and recycling along with their green bags.

County Councillor Simon Howarth said, "If people miss the collection day, or they are away, or even just prefer to deposit at the site why shouldn't they? 

"We would agree that it would have to be monitored but let's say we have a red bin and a purple bin it's going to be far easier to watch what goes where." 

Monmouthshire County Council has accepted the concern from the independent councillors and local residents, and has announced it is looking into the problem. 

A spokesperson for the council said, "We have already identified a demand for this within our communities and are working to adapt our civic amenity sites to accept red and purple recycling bags.

"We would, however, prefer people to leave them outside their homes for collection." 

Independent councillors have welcomed the investigation but say that this needs to be done sooner rather than later. 

Councillor Howarth told the Chronicle, "I've just found out about the change of purple and red collections to a Tuesday in areas like Gilwern and Govilon, with no reasonable explanation as to why. 

"If it is so easy to chop and change around these days, it would save everyone a lot of hassle if they could just deposit their waste at the CA sites. 

"Why shouldn't I just be able to go down to Llanfoist and drop off my recycling along with other waste? It would make everything much more accessible and simple for people." 

 The council has not set any timescale as to when it may be able to resolve this issue, but is working on finding a solution.