Following significant disruptions to recycling and waste collections, during and after the Christmas and New Year holiday, Carmarthenshire County Council has offered a sincere apology to residents who have been affected.

A spokesperson for Camarthenshire Council said: “If your collection has been missed, we kindly ask that you log it as a missed collection through the Council’s website.

“This will help us address the issue more efficiently and ensure your waste is collected as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

“The County Council’s delivery of collections, this Christmas period, has fallen short of the service levels our residents expect and what the Authority wishes to deliver.

“Carmarthenshire County Council is working hard, directly with its crews, to rectify the situation as soon as possible.

“Whilst bank holiday waste collection services have had multiple challenges for a number of years, the County Council has undertaken trials of various solutions to improve collection performance.

“However, the main challenge remains in staff availability. Our operational workforce has no contractual obligation to work either on a bank holiday, or the weekend following, and we have struggled to obtain sufficient levels of resource across the county to deliver certainty of service,” they added.

Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste and Infrastructure Services - Cllr Edward Thomas said: “I wholeheartedly sympathise with our residents that have been affected by the disruption to the bin collections over the past few weeks and understand their frustrations.

“Please be assured that we are working diligently to catch up on all missed collections and our officers are looking at all possible solutions to prevent this level of disruption from happening again.

“We have committed to engaging with staff and trade unions to understand how we can provide certainty of service for future bank holidays and we will develop a detailed plan that balances operational challenges, staff views and the needs of the community alongside the financial implications.

“This Christmas, we have in most parts successfully completed the collections of our residual waste (black bag) and AHP (nappy waste) collections. However, the recycling (blue bag and food waste) collections have been challenging.

“This is partly due to the substantial recycling volumes during the festive period, which were expected. However, the issue was compounded by staff absence levels, increased vehicle breakdowns, and delays at our transfer stations all leading to widescale service failure across the county.

“Once again, I would like to reiterate my apologies to affected residents and thank them for their understanding and patience during this challenging period for our recycling and waste service.”

You can also check the waste disruptions webpage for any major delays in your area.