ANOTHER 18,000 Monmouthshire homes will get fortnightly black bag rubbish collections by the summer, as part of a scheme which will save the local council £280,000.

Monmouthshire Council said it has taken the decision because residents are throwing away less and recycling more.

The scheme will be introduced in Monmouth in March and in Abergavenny in late June.

The scheme is already in place in Chepstow, Caldicot, Magor and Undy affecting around 16,000 households and will be introduced to the 1,000 households in Shirenewton, Devauden, Itton, Llanhennock, Tredunnock, Earlswood, Llanllowell, Coed Cwnwr, Star Hill, White Lye, Catbrook and Penallt on January 31.

A spokesman for the council said the changes will mean reductions in refuse staff and vehicles but said some are moving to recycling collections as these are continuing to increase.

By the end of 2011, the council expects to save £280,000 by saving two vehicles and crews.

The county recycled 41.3 per cent of waste last year and this is expected to rise to 47 per cent this year.

In 2009/10 Monmouthshire collected a total of 47,600 tonnes of waste and recycled 19.600 tonnes.

Through its kerbside collections it collected 31,700 tonnes of waste and recycled 14,400 tonnes.

It now aims to recycle 52 percent of waste by March 2013.

The council’s head of waste, Dave Harris, warned that the authority will be fined if it does not continue to improve its recycling rates.

He said the refuse bags will only contain dry items like plastic bags and packaging which will not smell whereas nappies and incontinence pads will continue to be collected weekly.

Food waste is collected weekly, and red and purple bags, used for recycling, will also continue to be collected on a weekly basis.

Leaflets about the scheme are due to be sent to residents in the next week.

We asked residents what they think: Lena Dyche, 56, from Monmouth, said: "People do not have wheelie bins so black bags piled up on the street will look like a tip, especially for those in terraces who have nowhere to put them.”

Mum-of-two Beverley Morgan, 24, of Wesley Gardens, Devauden, said she will have twice as many bags to put out: “I don’t think it’s a good idea as we live near to a field and foxes regularly rip open the bags and the rubbish is strewn everywhere."

Ms Morgan, who runs a mother and baby group in the village, said she usually has four bags of rubbish a week.

But Grahame Coe,76, of Kingsmark Avenue, Chepstow, has been putting his black bags out for fortnightly collection for several months after the scheme was introduced there last year and said it has not caused any problems.

“Because food waste goes into a separate bag and is collected weekly, the black bags don’t get full and contain only dry waste.

“However I do sympathise with those living in terraced houses who have no front garden or drive to put their bags until collection,” he said.