AFTER a weekend of culinary indulgence at the town's Food Festival many Abergavenny residents have found themselves unable to live up to Monmouthshire County Council's recycling aspirations on Monday morning as supplies of the green food 'caddy bags' ran out across the area.

Residents calling into Monmouthshire County Council's One Stop Shop in Abergavenny to pick up their supply of the food recycling bags were told that it would be at least a week before the supplies were replenished

One angry Abergavenny resident who wishes to remain anonymous said, "When I asked a member of staff at the town's One Stop Shop if I could have some food waste bags, they simply replied, 'No, we've run out and haven't got any, but hopefully we'll have some more in by next week.'

"I asked how, when MCC is making such a big song and dance about recycling and limiting refuse collection to two bags a fortnight, they could have possibly run out of bags and was duly informed that the council had got the order wrong, but hopefully once they 'tweaked it a little bit', things would run more smoothly and they'd be more than enough bags to go around."

When he asked what people who had no food recycling bags were supposed to do in the meantime, the furious resident claims he was told to wrap any food waste in kitchen towel and place it in the blue bin for collection on the allocated day. 

"I am outraged that the only solution to this problem was an indifferent response telling me to wrap any food waste in kitchen tissue, which I think is even more unhygienic than the green bags themselves, which isn't saying much," he said.

Although its refuse collection has not found universal favour with residents, Monmouthshire County Council has repeatedly expressed the importance of its recycling policy, saying that it is one of the best in Wales. Incidents like this however have left many already unhappy residents even more annoyed

"It really does beggar belief that a council which is forever boasting about its green credentials and which has done everything but beat people with a huge stick in a bid to get everyone in Abergavenny towing the party line on recycling, can possibly run out of recycling bags," the Chronicle was told.

"I mean, what exactly is going on in that purpose built Democracy Centre of theirs if they can't even get the recycling logistics for such a small area right?"

It seems that Abergavenny is not the only area blighted by a lack of bags, with Raglan residents also finding the supplies at the village post office low or non existent during recent weeks.

Officers at County Hall however stress that this is not a regular occurrence and that unforseen circumstances have depleted the number of waste bag supplies and promise that the situation will be corrected within the week.

Rachel Jowitt, Waste Strategy and Resources Manager said, "Over the last few weeks Monmouthshire residents have used an unprecedented number of food waste caddy bags and supply did become low. However emergency orders have been placed and delivery was received on Monday September 23 and all stockists are being replenished over the coming week."

Despite these reassurances residents feel this 'solution' is too little too late, and argue that the council should have measures in place to accommodate for mishaps like this, and more suitable alternatives to tackle the shortages.

"Why if the authority has run out of bags, do they not instruct the One Stop Shop to issue vouchers to residents who could then buy similar food waste bags at such places as Waitrose?

"Or is this sort of thinking too outside the box for the visionaries at MCC?" one questioned.

The council says that it takes all concerns on board, and adds that it has now taken precautionary measures and ordered surplus bags for the future to avoid the same situation happening in Monmouthshire again.

"We appreciate the patience of our residents during the last week and can only thank them for wanting to recycle their food and use the bags," said Ms Jowitt.