BLAENAU Gwent council says it is on track to reach next year’s recycling targets despite finishing bottom in Wales for the fourth year in a row.

The authority recycled, reused or composted 56 per cent of its household and non-household waste in 2017/18 – a marginal decrease on the previous year’s 56.8 per cent.

Local authorities across Wales were tasked by the Welsh Government to reach a statutory target of 58 per cent – Blaenau Gwent was the only one to fall short.

Wales’ overall recycling rate also fell but councils say new methods of measuring recycled wood and ash contributed to the drop.

But the council say they are pleased with the rate of improvement in recent years amidst ‘challenging’ circumstances.

“Blaenau Gwent faces challenges including the socio-demographics of the area and large numbers of terraced properties,” a statement read.

“But we remain committed to becoming a high recycling community and meeting challenging Welsh Government targets from 2019/20.”

In June a new borough-wide policy was introduced whereby no excess side waste is collected from homes, with crews only collecting kerbside waste in a wheelie bin.

Each household without a wheelie ban is allowed to put out a maximum of four black bags, with research suggesting that 70 per cent of black bag waste can be recycled.

The council said: “As a result of these changes the recycling performance within Blaenau Gwent has improved considerably, particularly food waste collected.

“Provisional figures indicate that Blaenau Gwent is on track to meet and exceed its 58 per cent recycling target for 2018/19.”

Visitors to recycling centres have also been asked to sort items into material type for recycling, a move which has been met with frustration by some people.

Residents have also had the option to recycle waste like cardboard, glass, plastics and small electric items using stackable ‘trolibocs’ containers, loose recycling boxes or hessian bags.

The council say more than half of the population use the ‘trolibocs’ but the system has also proved controversial since it started in 2015.

The statement continued: “The council is committed to helping residents to increase their recycling through a variety of other methods, including home visits from the waste advisory wardens providing help and advice, information on our web pages and social media with hints and tips, and being present in the community providing help and advice.

“We would like to thank our residents for taking part and actively working with us to help to achieve the improvements that we have seen. We will continue to work with our residents to improve our recycling rate.”

In Gwent, Caerphilly was the only authority to see their recycling rates rise while Newport, Torfaen and Monmouthshire saw their figures fall.