Cardiff Council has urged its residents to continue recycling despite incinerating recyclables ‘temporarily’ at Viridor’s energy from waste plant during the coronavirus outbreak.

It says the priority at the moment is to remove waste from the city’s streets ‘as quickly and as safely as possible’.

For this reason, all waste types, except for garden waste, are currently being collected weekly in one vehicle and this waste is being treated at an energy recovery facility.

The council said sending the majority of the city’s waste to Viridor’s facility is the ‘safest option for residents and our crews during the ongoing crisis’.

Michael Michael, Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Environment and Recycling at Cardiff Council said: “It is important to emphasise that this is only a temporary measure implemented to ensure we can maintain a kerbside collection service across the city while supporting the health and welfare of the workforce and residents during the lockdown.

“The energy recovery facility is unable to process green garden waste, as it causes significant operational difficulties for our contractor. This is why we are asking residents to store garden waste in their garden until the crisis is over.

“Our message to all residents is please continue to recycle your waste in the green bags provided it helps us, it helps your neighbours and it helps the city.”