A senior councillor has been asked why he and his colleagues are pressing ahead with plans to centralise waste collection operations and reduce black bag collections in Carmarthenshire “despite clear dissatisfaction from those who will be most affected”.

The written question to Cllr Edward Thomas, cabinet member for transport, waste and infrastructure services, was from a resident, Sion Davies.

Mr Davies, who was unable to attend the cabinet meeting on September 16, was referring to a decision in July by the Plaid-Independent cabinet to go ahead with several changes to waste collection from the middle of 2026.

Black bin bags will be collected every four weeks rather than every three but there’ll be more recycling options.

There’ll also be a centralised depot at Nantycaws, near Carmarthen, rather than the current four depots, a potential four-day working week for waste collection staff, and more electric refuse lorries.

The idea is to further increase recycling rates to ensure future Welsh Government targets are met, but the decision by cabinet and a consultation of waste staff by the council have been criticised by trade union Unison.

Mr Davies’s question said there was widespread concern about the waste service changes among staff, including “fears about earlier start times, increased travel distances, and the impact on local communities”.

Cllr Thomas said the council was “committed to making informed decisions that balance the needs of the community, environmental sustainability and economic viability”. It would, he said, continue to work with the Welsh Government on the new waste strategy in a way which would improve the service to the public while increasing recycling rates.

Cllr Thomas added that he would provide a full written response before council leader Darren Price said, in the interest of openness and transparency, that he had received a similar letter from Mr Davies “in his capacity as a Conservative party representative in Llanelli” and that, he too, would respond in writing.

On the same day as the cabinet meeting, the council said it had issued fines to eight householders last month for things like putting their rubbish out on their wrong day and putting the wrong recycling in the wrong bags.

This month, the council’s planning committee heard of Welsh Government concerns about the existing access to the Nantycaws depot from the A48. Access to the depot would become busier when it becomes a larger, centralised facility.

Improvement options, with one including a new roundabout, were said to be under discussion by the Welsh Government, but an agreement would need to be reached with the owner of the Nantycaws site – Cwm Environmental – and the South Wales Trunk Road Agent, which manages and improves the region’s road network on behalf of ministers.

Following the planning meeting, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We have engaged with representatives from both Carmarthenshire Council and the operators of the landfill site and we are developing solutions to improve conditions at a series of junctions on the A48 in and around Nantycaws.”