A number of local authority schemes will share a £14M grants package to boost recycling across Wales, including the first all-Wales plastic bottle auto sorter.

Most of the money will go towards schemes for vehicles and equipment to collect food and kitchen waste, which can then be used to generate electricity and produce compost and fuel.

In Blaenau Gwent, Wales’ first plastic bottle-recycling plant will be set-up after £850,000 was awarded to the Wales Sustainability Reinvestment Trust and the local authority. The money will be issued for a plastics auto sorter, which will process bottles from municipal waste across Wales. The outputs can then be used as raw materials by businesses in Wales and elsewhere in the UK.

All local authorities in Wales were invited to make joint applications for projects through a grant scheme set up to support local authority investment in plant and equipment for sustainable waste management.

Minister for environment, sustainability and housing, Jane Davidson said: ‘These substantial grants demonstrate the Government’s commitment to tackling the issue of waste.

‘We also hope these schemes will be another boost to the good work already being done by local authorities in Wales to meet our ambitious targets for recycling and diversion from landfill.’

Figures released earlier this week show that local authorities met the all-Wales target for recycling for 2006-07, and are progressing well to meeting the targets for 2009-10.