Ceredigion County Council website

Current Household Waste Sites

There are currently four Household Waste Sites in Ceredigion, which is one of the highest number of sites per person in Wales: 

• Cilmaenllwyd near Cardigan
• Glanyrafon Industrial Estate near Aberystwyth
• Lampeter
• Rhydeinon near Llanarth

The current opening hours at Cilmaenllwyd, Glanyrafon and Lampeter sites are:

• 9:00 - 17:00 Monday - Friday.
• 10:00 – 15:00 Weekends and Bank Holidays.
• The site at Rhydeinon is open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00-17:00.

All sites are closed on Good Friday, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

The location of each site is shown in the map below.

The Household Waste Site near Aberystwyth serves the north of the county and the site near Cardigan serves the south. There are two sites covering the middle of the county.

Most of the materials accepted at the Household Waste Sites can be disposed of legally and safely in other ways.

• Around 25% of the waste taken to the sites is garden waste which could be home-composted or collected through the Council’s Garden waste service.
• Paper, card, plastics, cans and cartons can be put in your clear bags, collected from the kerbside every week.
• Glass bottles and jars can be put in your kerbside box, collected every 3 weeks, or put into one of the county’s glass banks.
• Textiles, bric-a-brac and furniture can be reused by selling or donating them.
• Non-recyclable waste that can be put into your non-recyclable waste container and collected from the kerbside every 3 weeks.
• Large items that aren’t suitable for sale or donation can be collected through the Council’s bulky household waste service.

The need for change – costs and budgets

In the meeting of Ceredigion County Council held on 29 February 2024, Councillors heard that the Welsh Government had openly stated that their 24/25 Draft Budget is ‘the starkest and most painful since devolution’ It was also Ceredigion County Council’s starkest Budget yet. 

A Budget shortfall of £14m needed to be found from a combination of budget reductions and Council Tax increase considerations. Councillors therefore had to face incredibly difficult and unpalatable budget choices as part of weighing up how and where to reduce the cost of Council services.

As a result, 70 budget reductions proposals were put forward including a proposal to “Review the opening hours across all Household Waste Sites, including closure of 1 Site” to reduce the current costs of around £1.5 million by £100,000 per year.

The need for change – the future

The waste industry is constantly changing, as is waste legislation. In order for Ceredigion to meet the needs of today, and to be better prepared to meet the needs of tomorrow, the facilities at the county’s Household Waste Sites may need to be improved, and the sites may need to be extended to accommodate such improvements.  None of the sites are ideal for meeting future needs, and all four sites have limited opportunities for expansion.

Work will shortly be commencing to consider options for Council’s future waste services including household waste sites.  In the meantime, we need to find the short-term cost saving identified by the Council in February 2024, as we simply can’t afford to keep all sites open.

Since this council meeting, we have been considering several options.

Options

• Close or suspend use of the Cilmaenllwyd Household Waste Site or reduce the opening hours.
• Close or suspend use of the Glanyrafon Household Waste Site or reduce the opening hours.
• Close or suspend use of the Lampeter Household Waste Site or reduce the opening hours.
• Close or suspend use of the Rhydeinon Household Waste Site or reduce the opening hours.

Map 1 - showing all four sites, each circle represents a radius of 12 miles.

Map 2 - showing sites at Glanyrafon, Cilmaenllwyd and Rhydeinion.

Map 3 - showing sites at Glanyrafon, Cilmaenllwyd and Lampeter.

Map1 indicates that there is an overlap between the three Household Waste Sites in the south of the County.

The site at Glanyrafon is the only site in the north of the county, it is also the busiest both in terms of number of site users and weight of material accepted each year.  For these reasons, we would prefer to keep it open.

Cilmaenllwyd provides a facility for residents in the southwest of the County.  The sites at Rhydeinon and Lampeter provide sites for residents in mid-Ceredigion.  Map 1 illustrates that the greatest degree of overlap is between the sites at Rhydeinon and Lampeter.

Closing one of the two mid-county sites would align with our Corporate Strategy 2017–2022, which states: 'It is the intention of the Council to align future service provision with three geographical areas.

Proposal

We feel that suspending use of Rhydeinon site and maintaining opening hours at the other sites would have the least amount of impact on residents. 

It is proposed to suspend use of the Rhydeinon Household Waste Site, until such time as the review of the Council’s waste services is complete, and a longer-term strategy for the Council’s Household Waste Sites is developed. 

We expect this to increase the volumes of traffic around the sites at Cilmaenllwyd and Lampeter.  For this reason, it is not currently proposed to reduce the hours at the other sites.  Site usage will continue to be monitored and a reduction in opening hours at the remaining sites may be considered again in the future.

We have carried out an impact assessment on our proposal. You can read this here:

Impact Assessment on our proposal to suspend use of Rhydeinon site.

How to take part in this consultation

• Complete our on-line Review of Ceredigion Household Waste Sites survey.
• Download a paper copy of the Review of Ceredigion Household Waste Sites survey. 

If you wish to receive the information in alternative formats, such as large print or with a coloured background, please contact us on 01545 570881 or email clic@ceredigion.gov.uk.

You can also collect a paper copy from your local Library or Leisure Centre or by calling 01545 570881 or emailing us at clic@ceredigion.gov.uk.

Please return paper copies to your local library or to:

Waste Management Team

Ceredigion County Council

Ceredigion County Hall Penmorfa

Aberaeron

Ceredigion

SA46 0PA

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What happens next?

• The results of this consultation will be analysed.
• The Integrated Impact Assessment will be updated, based on consultation feedback.
• The draft proposal, consultation report and Impact Assessment will be presented to our Thriving Communities Scrutiny committee on 24th September 2025. They will scrutinise the documents and provide feedback.
• All of the documents, including feedback from Scrutiny, will be presented to Cabinet for a decision on the 7th October 2025.
• The details of the final agreed proposal will inform the tender process for new Waste Management contracts.
• Should the proposal be agreed, the change would start 1 February 2026.