Anger at 'one box' recycle limit

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Householders have been told they can fill up only one council-issued blue box with recycled waste every week.

Carmarthenshire Council blames the amount its lorries can carry, and told residents they can take anything left over to recycling sites themselves.

Friends of the Earth Cymru said the move was "extremely disappointing".

But the council said it planned to switch to bags instead of boxes which in time would allow people to recycle as much as they wanted.

People will either have to take the rest for recycling themselves or put it back in the black bags Wendy Thomas, Carmarthen People in Carmarthen said that until recently they were able to put out the blue boxes full of cans, plastic, glass and paper, with plus any surplus recyclable items in carrier bags.

But they have now been informed that only the blue boxes will be collected.

Wendy Thomas, of Hafod Elfed, said she and husband recycled much more than was now being taken away.

The couple have cut down on the amount sent to landfill from two black bin bags to an average of half a bag a week.

WHAT FITS INTO ONE BLUE BOX? Everything pictured above was put into a blue boxBut some residents claim the boxes are not big enoughThe council's rules state that the lid must be able to close properlyThe council also says there will be no restrictions by the end of 2008

"My husband telephoned yesterday to complain and my neighbour has phoned as well but they said they were now only allowed to take one box per house.

"People will either have to take the rest for recycling themselves or put it back in the black bags.

"If there is more recycling then they don't need so many people working on the normal bin lorries."

A spokeswoman for Carmarthenshire Council said: "It's simply a capacity problem with the lorries.

"There are dozens of 'bring sites' in the county where people can take their items for recycling."

She said the authority was working to increase its capacity and would be switching to bags rather than boxes which would allow people to recycle as much as they wanted.

Gordon James of Friends of the Earth Cymru said: "It's rather baffling as Carmarthenshire is doing quite well with its recycling and has a very good recycling centre at Johnstown.

"Research shows if you want people to recycle it's got to be made easy for them and the way to do it is door-to-door collections.

"It's extremely disappointing to hear that they have adopted this policy."