Carmarthenshire’s first phase of separated recycling collections starts for most affected homes on Monday 2 November 2026. If you are moving into the county or unpacking this week, check the arrangements for your new address before putting out packaging or rubbish.

The council’s launch announcement says the first phase covers around one third of homes, mainly in western Carmarthenshire. A small number will start later in November. Follow the start date in the property’s council letter: this is not a change for every home in Wales, or even every Carmarthenshire home at once.

Check the service and the collection calendar

Use the official postcode and address checker to establish whether your home is changing. Homes joining the new service must separate recycling into the supplied sacks and containers; single-use blue bags will no longer be collected as mixed recycling from those homes. Other homes continue with their existing mixed-recycling service for now.

Collection days, and the week when black bags are collected, may change across the county even where the recycling service itself stays the same. Check and download your address’s collection calendar, rather than relying on the previous occupant’s old routine.

Three checks while unpacking

  • Locate the council letter, calendar and containers during the handover. If the address is changing but the new sacks are missing, use the council’s delivery-report route linked from its guidance.
  • Keep reusable moving boxes aside. For cardboard you are recycling under the new service, use the orange sack; paper goes in the reusable blue sack. Follow the council’s sorting guide for other packaging.
  • Keep the first collection dates with your move notes. Use our unpacking plan and first-week guide to organise the other settling-in jobs.

A limited extra black-bag allowance

The council’s transition notice allows up to four black bags for a household’s first collection under the new schedule if it falls in the weeks beginning 9 or 16 November. This is a one-off allowance. From the week beginning 23 November, the standard three-bag limit applies countywide. Check your calendar before assuming the temporary allowance covers your collection.