LAST Wednesday the Cabinet of Monmouthshire County Council voted to replace the very successful 'Black Box' source-separated recycling scheme with the inefficient and more expensive 'co-mingled' system based on two single-use plastic sacks.
This decision will disappoint the 2000 people who signed petitions to save the 'Black Box' scheme as well as those who have supported the important Zero Waste Village initiatives. The notion of chucking our carefully separated recyclables into a compactor lorry that squashes them to a mangled mess devalues our efforts to tread more lightly on our planet, and results in higher costs.
According to one press report last week, MCC had already placed their order for the additional plastic sacks before the Cabinet made the decision to proceed with the two bag system! And there still hasn't been any public consultation regarding the switch to co-mingled collections.
Such a cavalier approach reinforces the view that we have a rogue council run by a rogue cabinet. If MCC really is committed to establishing a public engagement strategy 'to put the citizen at the centre,' the Cabinet has a strange way of demonstrating such a commitment.
Steve Rawlings, The Paddock, Chepstow.