A massive 859 tonnes of household rubbish put out for recycling has been collected by Neath Port Talbot Council staff over the Christmas and New Year period.

And the council is thanking householders for their co-operation over the end-of-year holidays with all the extra waste, additional packaging, cards and batteries which come at this time of year.

Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Engineering, Cllr Ted Latham, said: “Our recycling lorry crews have worked hard between Christmas Eve and Friday, January 4 to collect this huge volume of recyclable material.

“And they have been helped by residents conforming to the need to recycle more as the Welsh Government asks Welsh councils to up recycling rates from next April.

“We would now encourage residents to keep up the good work all year round. The support of our householders for our food waste kerbside recycling has been great so far, and we would now like to thank our residents for doing their bit.

“Keep up the great work and let's make 2019 our best year to date for recycling.”

The Council has to meet tough recycling targets set by the Welsh Government to recycle 64 per cent of waste by 2019/20 and 70 per cent by 2025.

Changes to help meet the target and to help Wales maintain its role as one of the World’s leading re-cycling nations have included the successful introduction of “challenge areas” at household waste recycling centres.

Other changes include changing the way green waste is collected from the current single use plastic bags to re-usable sacks and implementation and enforcement of the new “no side waste” rule, which means no black bags can be left alongside wheelie bins. In black sack areas the number of bags will be limited to three.

Also a major drive to cut food waste by encouraging greater use of food recycling caddies as food is by far the biggest category of waste people fail to recycle.