A war of words has broken out between Powys Conservatives and the county council over recycling.

The opposition group's leader Aled Davies blasted the current state of recycling in the county, calling the situation “abysmal” and in a statement, adding that Powys residents were being "badly let down" by the council's new Liberal Democrat and Labour administration.

They say that some residents' recycling boxes remained unemptied with some areas finding the weekly service is becoming a fortnightly service and “some roads completely missed for three or four weeks in a row”.

The criticism comes after the announcement that glass and paper recycling banks will soon be removed from the community recycling sites across the county in a bid to "streamline" services, providing the opportunity to focus resources on kerbside collections.

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Councillor Davies said: “There have been problems all summer with the recycling service.

"In July at a full council meeting, I sought assurances from the Liberal Democrat cabinet member for recycling, Cllr Jackie Charlton about the service, in response I was told, ‘We have put everything in place to make sure it shouldn’t happen again’.

"Clearly, that is simply not true, and the people of Powys continue to receive a poor service but on top of this the Liberal Democrat/Labour run council have this week announced that they are removing the remaining bottle and paper banks from across Powys.

“My plea to the cabinet at Powys Count Council is please get the kerbside collection right first before contemplating further removal of the bottle banks. It is clear that this current Council administration are making it harder, not easier to recycle."

But Cllr Charlton said Cllr Davies was in-part responsible for the banks' removal.

“The decision to remove the glass and paper recycling banks from community recycling sites was part of the budget proposal put forward by Councillor Davies when he was the finance portfolio holder and deputy leader, which was then agreed at the full council meeting on February 24," she said.

“It was decided to delay implementation of this decision until after the summer months, but having glass and paper recycling banks is a duplication of service given that these materials can now be collected through the weekly kerbside recycling service.

“We are making every effort to get our waste and recycling workforce up to full capacity but this is challenging due to the impact of the national recruitment crisis which is hitting all councils as well as the private sector.

“Through moving staff between depots and using highways staff, we are covering the rounds as best we can and are rotating where lorries are stood down so that no-one should go more than two weeks without a recycling collection.

“The removal of these banks will also allow the service to concentrate its stretched resources on fulfilling the weekly kerbside collection.”