Newport has been confirmed as one of the top five areas in Wales for recycling.
It comes as Welsh Government publish the annual recycling figures for Welsh councils for the 2024-25 financial year.
Newport’s rate of 71.4 per cent, which was announced in June, sees it ranked fifth out of the 22 council areas for 2024-25.
The rate is the highest ever recycling figure recorded in Newport, and meant that the city easily met a target of 70 per cent set by Welsh government.
The figure positions Newport as one of the best performing cities in Wales and the UK for recycling. The average recycling rate for UK councils is 44.6 per cent, and Newport is outperforming cities such as Liverpool, Birmingham and Nottingham.
Provisional figures for the first half of 2025-26 show an increased recycling rate of 72.8 per cent, and the council it is on course to get above 73 per cent by the end of the year.
“We knew that our recycling efforts would place us among the best performing areas in the country, so to have that confirmed today is brilliant news,” said Councillor Yvonne Forsey, Newport City Council's Cabinet member for climate change, waste and recycling.
“We have pushed really hard over the last few years to increase our recycling levels, and today’s announcement shows we are going in the right direction.
“I would like to reiterate my thanks to our residents and businesses for all of their efforts. Without them, we wouldn’t be in this position, so thank you. Your efforts are making a real difference to our city.”
Since April 2025, work carried out by Newport City Council to increase recycling includes:
- Setting up dedicated collections and recycling bins in the city centre for people living in flats
- Setting up a series of pop-up recycling centre events, which take recycling services out into local communities, making it easier for residents to dispose of their larger recycling items.
- More direct engagement with residents around recycling food waste (how to do it, what happens to it etc). Latest waste composition analysis showed that around 43 per cent of material people are putting into their general waste bin could be recycled. The majority of this is food waste, which accounts for 27 per cent of all waste thrown into general waste bins. This costs Newport over £440,000 in disposal costs.
Stats for the first three quarters of 2025-26 show that food waste collections are up by 10 per cent when compared to the first three quarters of 2024-25.
