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Major work is required at Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Full Moon waste transfer station following a previous round of urgent repairs.

Drainage and concrete replacements at the site, in Wattsville, are “well progressed” and due to be completed in December.

But further inspections at the site have uncovered “significant defects in the recycling hall, necessitating its full replacement”, Cllr Chris Morgan, the cabinet member for waste, told colleagues at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday November 12.

A report describes the discovery of “defective steel columns” and states “the building needs replacing before it can be safely reused”.

The hall must be demolished and replaced, with recyclable materials sent elsewhere for processing while work is carried out.

However, residents will still be able to take their own waste to the site’s ‘household recycling centre’.

The works could cost around £1.1 million, and the council hopes the Welsh Government will agree to foot 60% of the bill. The remaining 40% would fall on the council’s shoulders.

Officers have proposed using money from a scheme which requires companies to pay the full cost of managing the waste their products generate.

Hayley Jones, the council’s waste strategy manager, said the council had been allocated nearly £5.4m of EPR funding this year, of which £3.2m had already been earmarked for projects including the initial phase of repairs at Full Moon.

The council also wants to buy six new machines “to replace aging equipment at household recycling centres across the borough” at a cost of around £979,000, which could also be funded via EPR and Welsh Government.