NEWPORT City Council has welcomed the latest recycling figures which reveal it is currently meeting the Welsh Government target.

The Argus previously reported preliminary figures released by the Welsh Government, which show the council’s overall performance on recycling up to December 2016.

The Welsh Government introduced statutory recycling targets for local authorities to recycle 58 per cent of collected waste.

According to the data, Newport council improved on its September recycling figure of 60 per cent to 62 per cent in December 2016. The data also revealed the council’s highest recycling rate.

Councillor Roger Jeavons, who is cabinet member for streetscene, said he was “delighted” to see the improvement highlighted in the latest report.

Cllr Jeavons also thanked residents for their efforts in achieving the Welsh Government’s target.

He said: “Thanks to all our residents who are vigorously recycling every week to help keep the amount of items that go to landfill down as much as possible.

“We look forward to the day when 100% of household waste is recycled, reused or repurposed but it is good news to see we are making progress,” said Cllr Jeavons.

“The city has seen a change in how it recycles items in the last year with cardboard now collected weekly by our recycling partners Wastesavers – and this has helped boost our recycling figure.

“However many residents are still not recycling food waste and we would urge people to get the food caddies for this purpose.

“Free food bags are provided and the larger caddies are also picked up by Wastesavers on a weekly basis.

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