article: Wales is leading the way among the UK nations and is aiming to become one of the top recycling nations. But Llanelli AM Lee Waters said the push to achieve targets could create "unintended consequences". The Welsh Government said there was no evidence waste collection frequency changes led to more fly-tipping. Mr Waters said Carmarthenshire council was doing things with "the best of intentions" but which were having "knock-on consequences", such as a policy involving the collection of just four bin bags every fortnight. "Some families are trying to get around that by putting their bin bags in front of neighbours' houses," he said. "And when that's being reported, they're being prosecuted, quite rightly, but to avoid that they are then fly-tipping," he said. Mr Waters said Carmarthenshire has some of the best recycling rates in the country but now it was time to tackle "the hard bits", including people who do not want to co-operate. "But I think there's a judgement for us all to reach about how far do we want to push this because, if we push it too far, too fast, we're going to create unintended consequences," he said. "So, we may well hit our litter targets but we'll also create fly-tipping problems and broader littering problems which will increase costs." Christine Clarke, who lives near Llanelli town centre, has experienced problems with people dumping black bag waste in the lane behind her house. "It's been horrendous," she said. "We've had rats running around and it's not just this lane, it's all the back lanes in Llanelli." A Carmarthenshire council spokesman said fly-tipping was not unique to Llanelli, however, it was "working hard" to address issues there. He said: "Although generally street cleanliness is good, there are hotspot areas in the town centre, such as the rear lanes which are prone to fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour. "Unfortunately, as soon as they are cleaned up, it is not long before they are back in the same mess yet again." A new taskforce will meet for the first time next month, with the aim of bringing together environmental and enforcement officers, councillors and police in finding a long-term solution. Other areas in Wales are seeing similar problems, such as Conwy county where many residents are said to be unhappy with the council's decision to move away from a fortnightly general waste collection to one every three weeks. Clwyd West Conservative AM Darren Millar said: "When bin collections were fortnightly, support was good and Conwy increased its recycling rates so it became one of the best in the country - all credit to the council for that. "Unfortunately, there's less support now due to that increasing to collections every three or four weeks, which is having disastrous consequences as we're experiencing a massive increase in roadside litter and fly-tipping. "In addition, there are issues now with people burning waste and pest control." A Conwy council spokesman said: "Three-weekly refuse bin collections and a trial of four-weekly bin collections were introduced in Conwy from September. "The move came after a study found
summary: Implementing stricter recycling policies too fast across Wales could lead to fly-tipping problems, an assembly member has warned.