City will have eight different recycling bags to meet targets

Residents in Cardiff will soon have an extra waste bag to deal with as the council looks to boost its recycling rate.

The city's cabinet has agreed to a dedicated collection for soft plastics.

These include lightweight and more fragile plastics such as clingfilm, bread bags and crisp packets.

Figures show that last year, the city managed to increase its recycling rate by 4% to 64%, but this was still short of the 70% target.

Cardiff residents shared mixed opinions on the change, with one saying: "Rubbish bags don't look very nice, but it's more important that people recycle."

Residents will receive rolls of dedicated 30-litre bags for storing clean and dry soft plastics; the bags should then be placed in the existing red sacks for kerbside collection.

The council believes the new system should make things simpler for residents and can be incorporated into the current recycling scheme without capacity issues.

The change will exclude flats that use communal bins. A separate trial will be held to work out the best method for collecting soft plastics from these buildings.

The council will also adjust the collection for absorbent hygiene products, like nappies. The collection will be changed from twice a week to once a week in April 2026.

The change will be introduced this summer, ahead of a statutory national requirement in April 2027.

Soft plastic collections are expected to make a considerable impact to Cardiff recycling performance.

Councillor Norma Mackie, cabinet member for waste, street scene & environmental services, said: "Soft plastics represent a significant proportion of Cardiff's residual waste."

"Both these interventions will aid Cardiff in achieving the Welsh government statutory requirement of 70% of municipal waste being recycled."

Residents from Cardiff expressed mixed views about the new recycling bags.

Andrew thinks there's enough recycling bags but will use the new ones. He said: "I'm not opposed to it but there's so many recycling bags now"

Sandra, 27, didn't know about the change but thinks it couldn't come soon enough.

She said: "Rubbish bags don't look very nice, but it's more important that people recycle, "The more recycling we can do the better"

Ellie, 34, who works at a property managing company, feels neutral about the change.

She said: "I'm not bothered about new bags really it's obviously important that we recycle but I hope the items do actually get recycled."

Vin and Rhys both think the money used to provide new recycling bags should be used to improve the recycling centres.

Rhys said he's seen the bin lorries mixing the waste so feels like it's pointless having another bag.

They said: "I think the money should go into investing in the local recycling centre, it would make more jobs and waste would be sorted properly."