LAURA Anne Jones has slammed the Welsh Government for advising councils they should collect black bag waste “once every three to four weeks”.

 Black bags are currently collected every two weeks in Monmouthshire.  

 Welsh Government’s new guidance to councils says, “collection once every three to four weeks is sufficient and more frequent collection should be avoided so that it does not undermine the effectiveness of the recycling service provided".

 Council tax in Monmouthshire rose by 7.8% in the most recent budget.  

According to the Collections Blueprint 2025, the Welsh Government's preferred strategy is "for all aspects of collection (household recycling and waste collection, reuse and cycling centres, bring sites, bulky collections, non-household recycling and waste collections and litter collections) to be managed in an integrated way to deliver high-quality resource and management services at the lowest practicable units costs."

The document also recommends that black bag waste policies should by "actively enforced" and there should be clear policies in place for households that "require additional capacity."

Laura Anne Jones MS, Senedd Member for South Wales East and Shadow Minister for Housing, Local Government and the Armed Forces, said, “In my opinion, two weeks should be the absolute maximum that black bins are collected. With the eye-watering council tax rises across Wales, councils should be able to manage that, especially when you consider what residents are paying for services, and the health and safety issues that can come with less frequent collections.

 “People in Labour-controlled Monmouthshire shouldered an eye-watering council tax rise in the most recent budget, and now the Labour Welsh Government are encouraging even deeper service cuts."

“People are better at managing their waste now, and that’s to be welcomed, but three to four week collections is preposterous.”