THE additional costs for waste management in Denbighshire are forecast at £1.2million for 2024-25, a council report has stated.

But Denbighshire County Council added that this “gross overspend will be netted off by a one-off receipt” from its share of the refinancing of the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Partnership, of which it is a part along with county councils in Gwynedd, Flintshire, Conwy and Anglesey.

On June 3, the council implemented changes to recycling and waste collections, including new containers and weekly collections for recyclable materials, and the scrapping of the blue wheelie bin.

Since then, some residents have been required to separate their “dry” recycling using a new three-tier “Trolibocs”.

But the council, which has previously claimed the new scheme would save it £400-500K per year, has issued multiple apologies for residents not having their bins collected on time since the new system began.

Extracts from a finance report, written by the council’s chief accountant, Rhian Evans, and presented to its cabinet yesterday (September 24), read: “The current outturn prediction for the (highways and environmental) service as a whole is £1.124m, due to pressures on the winter maintenance budget and not achieving full-year savings from the proposals included in 24-25.

“The issues with the roll-out of the new waste model have resulted in temporary additional resources needing to be deployed, over and above budget, during an extended implementation phase now estimated to run from June to September.

“Revised recycling routes are being finalised and planned from October onwards. Routes are being added to those originally planned, therefore resulting in higher costs of service delivery than initially envisaged.

"These combined additional in-year costs for waste are currently forecast at £1.2m. 

"However, this gross overspend is netted off by a one-off receipt which the council has just received from its share of the refinancing of the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Partnership, bringing the waste service into balance for the year.

“An additional cabinet meeting has been scheduled for October 1, for cabinet to approve the revised routes, which will include financial information.”

Denbighshire County Council said last week that it is finalising a paper on, and a revised business case for, the new waste service.

The report added that the council’s net revenue budget for 24-25 is £271.021m; an increase from £250.793m last year.

An overspend of £240,000 on service and corporate budgets has been forecast, meanwhile.

Ms Evans described the council’s financial situation as “extremely challenging” in her report, adding that it, along with all Welsh local authorities, faces “unprecedented financial challenges”.