MONMOUTHSHIRE COMMUNITY RECYCLING

AIL-GYLCHU CYMUNEDOL SIR FYNWY

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do you cover some areas, but not others?
The Black Box Scheme is a pilot project, a totally new system for Monmouthshire when it started, and it was hard to know what would happen. Severnside and Chepstow were considered good areas to try the scheme out with the funding available at the time.  Monmouth and Abergavenny are similar in size and population to the pilot areas.  With only a limited amount of funding available, we could not buy enough boxes and vehicles to cover all of Monmouthshire, even if we were ready to.  Starting small, we have been able to improve the system without making too many costly commitments.

When will you cover the whole county?
It is one of our aims to offer a service to the whole county, but we realise that everywhere is different, and have started looking at ways of effectively collecting from villages and more rural areas. These rounds are working well, but do cost a bit more to run, especially with only one depot. As that depot is in Caldicot, it might be a while before we can reach parts of the North. We can add to some rounds when we have capacity, so feel free to ask if you want to be included.

Why don't you take plastic?
Our trucks, boxes and rounds have been set up to take most of what can be recycled by weight, and are not yet ready to take plastic. Plastics can be very hard to recycle - they are light, come in many different types which can't be mixed, and often have to be transported great distances for reprocessing. However we have had so much interest in plastics that we are now running a pilot scheme in Portskewett and Sudbrook, and will extend it to other areas if successful.  Our new Zero Waste Village project will be looking at diverting as many materials as possible from landfill. 

Can you take cardboard?
Cardboard is not suitable to go in with paper, as the fibres are too short. We have decided not to collect card or cardboard from householders, as this service is offered by Monmouthshire County Council, who carry out the green waste collections (Tel 01633 644897).

Are you part of the Council? 
MCR is a separate organisation, but we do work closely with Monmouthshire County Council on several of our projects, and receive funding and support from them.

Are there any other schemes like MCR?
Monmouthshire has lots going on, including its own Waste Forum, with members such as Wormtech and Homemakers Community Recycling.  MCR as a community recycling organisation belongs to the networks CRN (UK) and Cylch (Wales CRN), with hundreds of members carrying out all kinds of waste reduction activities. Near to Monmouthshire, there are kerbside box schemes in Newport, Torfaen, Powys, Herefordshire, Bristol and Bath run by community recycling groups.  See our Links section for more information on these.