Waste Awareness Wales urges local communities to get involved in waste plans

5 Jan 2012

Waste Awareness Wales is encouraging the people of south east Wales to get involved in a series of community events being hosted by Prosiect Gwyrdd, the local council partnership tasked with delivering a sustainable treatment solution for waste that cannot be recycled.

The community ‘information sessions’ have been organised to help inform local residents about the proposals submitted by the two waste treatment companies who have been shortlisted by the Prosiect Gwyrdd partnership to deliver a waste treatment facility for south east Wales..

Only one proposal will eventually be chosen by the project. Veolia Ltd is proposing an Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) be built in Llanwern, Newport, while Viridor Ltd’s plans are for an Energy from Waste (EfW) facility on Trident Park, Cardiff.

The series of information sessions will be held across the region on:

• Saturday 07 January: St Augustine’s Parish Hall, Penarth from 10:00 till 13:30
• Saturday 14 January: Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay from 10:00 till 14:00
• Saturday 21 January: Llanwern Village Hall from 10:00 till 14:00
• Saturday 28 January: Caldicot Leisure Centre from 10:00 till 14:00
• Saturday 04 February: Risca Palace Library from 10:00 till 14:00

Stu Hodges, Community Engagement Officer for Waste Awareness Wales, said:

"While only one of these proposals will eventually be chosen by the partnership to treat the non-recyclable waste collected in south east Wales, it is important that people throughout the region are kept as well informed as possible.

"Building new waste treatment facilities is just one part of a much wider waste solution in Wales.  Wales has set the highest recycling targets in the UK and it is the first country to make these targets statutory.  We are also the first country where every local authority offers a separate food waste collection service from the kerbside. Every local council is committed to reaching ambitious recycling targets and these new facilities will only come into play once we have all done our bit by recycling and composting as much as we can.

"This project and others like it in Wales are all about finding a better alternative to landfill, an unsustainable form of waste treatment that is simply not an option for the future.  We would encourage anyone who is interested in finding out more about how non-recyclable waste will be treated in south east Wales to attend one of these information events."

Anyone who would like to find out more about the project should visit www.prosiectgwyrdd.co.uk.