On the streets of Cardiff and far beyond, the push for cleaner communities and smarter recycling is taking on new urgency—and, at times, a few unexpected twists. As local councils and grassroots campaigners double down on efforts to keep rubbish at bay, the complexities and contradictions of waste management are coming to the fore, sparking both celebration and frustration among residents.
Just this past week, Cardiff resident Rahim Mustafa found himself at the center of a familiar dilemma. Mustafa, who lives in Fairwater, noticed that the rubbish he and his neighbors had carefully sorted into separate recycling sacks was being mixed together in the back of a collection lorry. “It’s just something that people are concerned by,” Mustafa told BBC News, after posting a video of the incident on social media. He was quick to clarify that his frustration wasn’t aimed at the council workers themselves, but rather at the system that seemed to undercut residents’ efforts. “I know people get fined as well for their rubbish. They won’t take it away if you haven’t divided it properly.”
Since Cardiff Council rolled out its new sack-sort recycling scheme in 2022, most households have been required to separate plastics, tins, paper, and glass into color-coded bags. The aim? To boost the quality of recyclable material collected and, ultimately, improve recycling rates across the city. And, on paper at least, the numbers look promising. According to data from the council, dry recycling—think plastic bottles, tin cans, paper, and glass—accounted for 40.65% of all recycling in the first quarter of 2025. That’s the highest proportion since records began in 2018-19. Overall recycling performance has also ticked up, jumping from 60% to 64% in the latest figures.
Yet, the reality on the ground is a little messier. The council admits that, on occasion, separated recycling does end up mixed together during collection. The culprit? Equipment limitations. Cardiff operates a fleet of 27 split-back recycling vehicles, each weighing in at 26 tonnes, plus two smaller 18-tonne vehicles. Every six weeks, each vehicle undergoes a thorough inspection lasting three days, and once a year they’re taken out of service for a five-day annual checkup. When one of these twin-back trucks is out of commission, the council deploys contingency vehicles—sometimes general waste lorries—that lack the ability to keep recyclables separated.
Cardiff Council has been transparent about this workaround. “The improvement in the quality of recycling collected through the new system is significant, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank residents for embracing the scheme and adapting to it so quickly,” a council spokesperson explained to BBC News. “However, the quality of the recycled material remains unchanged, as it is later separated by a re-processor.” In other words, while some mixing happens en route, the materials are sorted again before final processing.
Still, for residents like Mustafa, the optics are hard to ignore. Why go to the trouble of separating rubbish at home, only to see it all tossed together at the curb? The confusion is compounded for certain groups, especially the elderly and young families. “I know there’s other people, elderly people, who may not understand,” Mustafa said. “I’ve got kids and they often chuck the wrong thing in the wrong bag or [an item] that isn’t even recyclable.”
Critics of the scheme, including several local councillors, have flagged other challenges too. The bags themselves, while effective for sorting, require extra storage space in already cramped homes. And after collection? Sacks are known to blow away in the wind, creating a new kind of litter problem. Despite these hiccups, the council insists that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, pointing to the upward trend in recycling rates as evidence that the system is working—at least in aggregate.
But while Cardiff grapples with the logistics of municipal recycling, a very different kind of waste-busting movement is gathering steam across the UK—and now, around the world. Enter Mark Rowlands, a Bristol man whose personal quest to clean up public spaces has blossomed into the award-winning 'One Million Bags' campaign. The idea was born in January 2025, after Rowlands filled a single bag with litter at Everest Base Camp in Nepal the previous year. Inspired by that moment, he set himself an ambitious target: mobilize communities to collect one million bags of rubbish.
Fast forward to August 30, 2025, and the campaign has already passed a significant milestone—50,000 bags collected. What started as a solo effort in Easter Compton has gone global, with teams in the United States and Vietnam joining the cause. “What this is really about is encouraging people to get outdoors, get active, but give back to your communities at the same time,” Rowlands told BBC News. He’s quick to point out that national pride isn’t just about waving flags: “Dropping litter isn’t pride, looking after where you live is.”
Unlike many environmental initiatives, 'One Million Bags' is refreshingly informal. There’s no official membership or bureaucracy. Anyone can take part by searching for 'One Million Bags' on the fitness app Strava or using the hashtag on social media. “It’s really caught on because it’s so easy, so simple and so accessible,” Rowlands explained. The campaign has even attracted royal attention—a letter of support from Buckingham Palace—and Rowlands is currently in talks with the UK Prime Minister’s office about ways to amplify the campaign’s reach.
Rowlands believes the movement dovetails neatly with government priorities to support grassroots community organizations as a means to boost both environmental and mental health. “There will be a lot of people who say ‘that’s what I pay council tax for’ but the reality is we all know that councils really struggle with funding right now—but this is more about people thinking about themselves and their community,” he said. He’s now applying for charitable status, hoping to formalize the campaign’s structure and impact.
For many, the appeal of 'One Million Bags' lies in its collective spirit. “When people come together for a common purpose we can make a big difference,” Rowlands said. And while some may feel embarrassed about picking up litter, joining a wider group with a shared goal can turn a solitary act into a point of local pride.
From Cardiff’s evolving recycling regime to the grassroots energy of 'One Million Bags,' the UK’s war on waste is being waged on multiple fronts. Whether through official policy or bottom-up activism, the message is clear: cleaner communities require both systems and citizens to pull together, even when the path to progress is a little untidy.
