Llangollen Friends of the Earth support Phil Jones’ campaign for Dee Valley residents to be allowed to use Plas Madoc recycling centre.
We believe that waste reduction is most important, and that retailers and manufacturers have a key role to play in reducing waste. However in Llangollen and the Dee Valley we have a situation where people are currently driving a distance three times that of the distance to the nearest facility in Plas Madoc. That is inconvenient, wasteful and bad for the environment.
We understand that some negotiation has taken place over the years between Denbighshire and Wrexham councils over this issue. Concerns about cost and usage monitoring have been mentioned as possible stumbling blocks. However recent developments could help move past those blockages. For example Denbighshire’s new online booking system could be expanded to include the Plas Madoc facility for Dee Valley postcodes. The exact usage can then be monitored, and Denbighshire could then be billed using those figures.
It is clear that other towns in Denbighshire have much better levels of service, and we would encourage Denbighshire council to re-deploy resources more evenly. This could be achieved by increasing the number of days on which the pop-up facility operates. If the hours could be increased for the pop-up facility, then this would become a more convenient service, and could be especially useful to those who do not have access to a vehicle, or those who would prefer not to travel out of town to dispose of waste.
We would encourage members of the public to write to their councillors regarding this issue. But also to consider the source of the problem, and to contact retailers about the amount of packaging they receive with goods. If members of the public would like more information or to take things further locally, then there are a number of groups in the area campaigning on waste issues.
Link to Phil Jones’ campaign petition page: https://www.change.org/p/denbighshire-county-council-return-of-recycling-in-llangollen-and-the-dee-valley
Councillor details can be found here: https://moderngov.denbighshire.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1&LLL=0
Surfers against sewage campaign group: https://www.sas.org.uk/communities-near-me/
Llangollen & District Friends of the Earth: www.llangollenfoe.org.uk
Plastic Free Llangollen: www.facebook.com/PlasticFreeLlangollen
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