Pembrokeshire residents will have to buy their own black bags from next year, a measure which will save Pembrokeshire County Council an annual sum of £83,000.

The council is one of the last authorities to offer a roll of 52 black bags for free every year. Two years ago the size and quality of black bin bags was reduced, saving £130,000 a year.

A report to cabinet on Monday said:

"It is not a statutory duty to provide these bags and indeed other local authorities including Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire do not supply them to their residents."

The report acknowledged that county residents may use orange recycling bags "incorrectly to avoid having to buy their own black bags" and there was a potential cost in contamination of recycling.

However, it added it was expected that residents who do not currently recycle "would be encouraged to do so to make use of the free orange bags and to minimise the amount of black bags they need to buy."

"We are one of the last authorities who do this," said Huw George, cabinet member for Cabinet Member for Environmental and Regulatory Services and the Welsh Language.

"We have reduced the size and made them thinner; any thinner and they would be white bags."

Cllr George added that the council needed to make savings as it had "taken a hit" on the resale of recyclables as the price of metal and paper has plummeted.

Head of Environment & Civil Contingencies, Richard Brown, said that neighbouring Carmarthen and Ceredigion don't have any more problems with fly tipping or higher contamination of recycling than us, even though they don't provide black bags.

"I wouldn't anticipate general wide spread disturbance among the public if we stop providing black bags," he said.

Cllr George encouraged cabinet members to make the decision immediately, as the council was about to buy next year's bags and could make a saving by not doing so.

Council leader Cllr Jamie Adams added that the option of paying for black bags had been raised during the public meetings on cost cutting in the autumn.

Cabinet voted unanimously to cease to supply black bags to Pembrokeshire households from 2016 and to increase the garden waste collection fees from £38 to £41.50 a year.