8:11pm Friday 8th February 2008
By Daniel Lombard
A GWENT village is ahead of schedule in becoming the first zero waste community in Wales.
Hard-working residents of St Arvans, near Chepstow, have achieved a 77 percent recycling rate since the launch of the groundbreaking scheme seven months ago.
An impressive 95 percent of the 261 homes in the village are taking part by promising to minimise waste as much as possible.
Before the project, villagers faced a ten-mile journey to dispose of garden waste at a unit in Caerwent and a three-mile drive to Chepstow to get rid of plastic bottles.
Thanks to Monmouthshire Community Recycling and partnership agencies, residents now have weekly collections of all recyclable materials including glass, plastic and paper, cans, foil and textiles, along with garden waste and food waste.
"The progress has been above expectations," said Simon Anthony, zero waste coordinator at MCR.
"The residents and collection crew have been absolutely fantastic."
Bob Gore, chairman of St Arvan's Community Council, took part in an event in the village today, also attended by Jane Davidson, the Assembly minister for environment, sustainability, and housing.
He said: "I'm very pleased to have achieved such a high recycling rate, and proud to be cited as the first zero waste village in Wales.
"Hopefully we will provide lessons for other schemes that will spread across the UK."
This month, weekly collections of mobile phones, household batteries and printer cartridges will begin.
The only problems identified are a difficulty in disposing of cat litter and disposable nappies in an environmentally friendly way.
The zero waste project is supported by Monmouthshire council and Environment Wales, which is funded by the Welsh Assembly.
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