Recycling rate
65%
Total waste per person
531kg
Residual waste per person
188kg

Recycling service

Gwynedd County Council provides residents with a weekly multi-stream kerbside recycling collection service.

Residents who have been provided with Cartgylchu, stacked boxes, must sort recycling into three boxes: paper in the top, plastic and cans in the middle, and glass in the bottom box. 

Residents without Cartgylchu must place their dry recycling into the traditional blue recycling box. 

Flats are provided with the same recycling collection, except dry recycling is placed in a communal wheeled bin.

A weekly food waste collection is provided, with food waste placed in brown 23-litre food waste bins. The council provides food waste bags, with more available on request.

The council also operates a fortnightly garden waste service from brown bins for an annual fee of £35, with additional brown bins available for an extra £30 a year.

A bulky household waste collection service is available for furniture, small and large WEEE and carpet for a fee of £27 for up to five items.

Residual waste is collected every three weeks from either green wheelie bins or a maximum of three black sacks.

There are eight recycling centres across the county at Caernarfon, Y Bala, Bangor, Blaenau, Dolgellau, Harlech, Pwllheli and Rhwngddwyryd.

Visit Gwynedd council website

Household waste recycling centres

Dolgellau Recycling Centre

Dolgellau Recycling Centre
52.747, -3.87748

Harlech Recycling Centre

Harlech Recycling Centre
52.8696, -4.10648

Pwllheli Recycling Centre

Pwllheli Recycling Centre
52.8899, -4.40499

Rhwngddwyryd Recycling Centre

Rhwngddwyryd Recycling Centre
52.9558, -4.24621

Caergylchu Recycling Centre, Caernarfon

Caergylchu Recycling Centre, Caernarfon
53.1402, -4.25245

Y Bala Recycling Centre

Y Bala Recycling Centre
52.9101, -3.59159

Bangor Recycling Centre

Bangor Recycling Centre
53.218, -4.11147

Blaenau Ffestiniog Recycling Centre

Blaenau Ffestiniog Recycling Centre
53.0047, -3.94454

In total
All materials
42k
tonnes of waste was recycled
Savings
Selected materials
£5m
saved by recycling instead of disposal
Climate change impact
Selected materials
20k
tonnes of CO2 emissions was avoided

Top 5 UK recycling destinations

1
Biogen
Llanllyfni, Wales
4,841t
Organic Waste
2
4,630t
Organic Waste
3
Reuse Glass Uk Ltd
Wakefield, England
4,315t
Glass
4
3,906t
Rubble and aggregate
5
Ballast Phoenix Ltd
Runcorn, England
3,777t
Incinerator Bottom Ash

Where does Wales’ recycling go?

Top countries (selected materials) 2022/23

Glass

Glass icon

Amount recycled
4,622t
CO2 avoided
3,489t
Estimated disposal saving
£522,248
Reported as exported
0%

Top destinations

Metal

Metal icon

Amount recycled
3,743t
CO2 avoided
9,507t
Estimated disposal saving
£422,969
Reported as exported
5%

Top destinations

Organic Waste

Organic waste icon

Amount recycled
11,576t
CO2 avoided
579t
Estimated disposal saving
£1,308,134
Reported as exported
0%

Top destinations

Paper

Paper and cardboard icon

Amount recycled
5,851t
CO2 avoided
3,201t
Estimated disposal saving
£661,189
Reported as exported
0%

Top destinations

Plastic

Plastic icon

Amount recycled
2,033t
CO2 avoided
1,090t
Estimated disposal saving
£229,737
Reported as exported
0%

Top destinations

Textiles

Textil icon

Amount recycled
378t
CO2 avoided
2,205t
Estimated disposal saving
£42,746
Reported as exported
0%

Top destinations

WRAP Cymru