A COUNCILLOR and former councillor have butted heads over the new Trolibocs system being introduced in Denbighshire next month.

From Monday 3 June 2024, Denbighshire County Council (DCC) is introducing changes to recycling and waste collections. 

Residents will have to sort recyclable materials into new containers and recycling will be collected weekly. For non-recyclable waste collections, households on the standard (wheelie bin) service will have their non-recyclable waste collected every four weeks whilst households on the bag service will have their non-recyclable waste collected every week.

Properties on the communal bin service will have their non-recyclable waste collected every four weeks.

Paul Penlington, Plaid Cymru Parliamentary candidate for Clwyd East, and St Asaph East councillor Martyn Hogg, Green Party parliamentary candidate, both have opposing views on the new collections; Mr Penlington is against the scheme whilst cllr Hogg fully supports the new waste recycling model.

Mr Penlington said: "This £22 million of public money Trolibocs scheme has been imposed on us, despite residents' objections. Recycling is of course important but North Wales has the highest number of pensioner deaths from the cold, the highest child poverty rates in the UK, people dying in ambulances and others literally pulling their own teeth. Times are hard, which is why we must prioritise with the limited resources available to us.

"Denbighshire is already well over £260 million in debt and this scheme has now added to that debt. The huge cuts to public services and increases to our council tax, further burdening the most vulnerable in our county. Flintshire is currently looking at adopting a similar scheme at a similar cost. I would urge them to look very carefully at the actual immediate and future costs.

"Denbighshire's recycling rates are already one of the best in Wales; this system will make a very small difference to that statistic and no difference to global warming. Until China and the US make some drastic changes, the planet will continue to overheat. Feeling good about an uncertain five-per cent increase in recycling rates in Denbighshire is meaningless against that."

Mr Penlington continued: "The £22 million for these cheaply made and flimsy boxes could have made a very real difference to many people's lives right here, right now. The existing wheelie bins have already cost the county almost £2 million, and Denbighshire County Council is now paying a private company over £100,000 to put 37,000 of them into storage, within Denbighshire, before recycling them.

"There is as yet no timescale or information on how long they will be stored, what the ongoing cost of that will be, or whether DCC will sell or gift them to a recycling company.

"Incredibly, I am informed by Denbighshire County Council they may eventually be recycled to create ‘wheeled bins’."

Cllr Hogg said: "The new scheme will cost DCC between £400k and £500k per year less to operate than the current system after loan repayments and it will create around 27 local jobs.

"It will increase recycling to world leading rates of over 70 per cent, according to WRAP Cymru. In addition to this, the new system will mean the more waste Denbighshire residents recycle, the more money the council will receive from selling the wastage. Under the current system, the more we recycle, the more we must pay to send it to a facility in Shotton. Currently £25 per ton.

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"An analysis of what gets put in the grey bin showed that 49 per cent could be recycled."

Cllr Hogg added: "I have noticed some politicians making claims about the new model that I believe are misleading. The main one is that the £23m spent on this project would have been better spent on schools or social care or roads.

"DCC have not decided to spend £23m on a new waste recycling system instead of spending the money on schools, social care or roads. Borrowing money to invest in this capital project means there will be more revenue available for other public services. Politicians should not confuse day-to-day revenue spending with one-off capital spending.

"This project is a great example of borrowing to invest in the green economy and delivering environmental, financial and economic benefits. A total of 27 more people will be able to pay rent and put food on the table because of this project and the council will have £400,000 more per year to spend on other public services like schools, social care and roads than if they didn’t change the waste recycling model.

"Every concern that I have seen raised by residents on social media or in letters and emails has been answered by DCC councillors during meetings and workshops on the new system, or by residents, parish councillors and county councillors at drop-in sessions, or in the communications on the DCC website, or in the printed leaflets included with the new bins and delivered to residents. There will be challenges but we can overcome them just like the other counties in Wales who already do kerbside sorting."

In March, Denbighshire’s leader cllr Jason McLellan said the new system would be "better for all" but expected resistance from some residents.

“Lots of people don’t like change, but I think it is a good system because I think it will improve our recycling rates,” he said.

“It will save us money. I don’t think it is complex. The boxes are simple, paper, plastic, tin, and glass, and a separate bag for cardboard, collected weekly. That’s got to be an improvement, and it addresses the issues we are all concerned about with climate change and the climate emergency.”