Missed bin collection complaints decrease in North Devon

Work at depot doesn't cause disruption

Environment leaders at North Devon Council have reported “minimal issues” with the waste and recycling service over the busiest three months of the year, despite potential disruption from improvement works at its headquarters.

A £3.7 million revamp at Brynsworthy Environment Centre, Roundswell near Barnstaple, which should make recycling quicker and safer for contractors, upgrade facilities for staff and meet fire prevention standards, is due to be completed by the beginning of December.

Head of environmental enhancement Mark Kentell told the council’s strategy and resources committee they were expecting issues and more complaints from the public about missed bin collections but complaints had actually reduced significantly.

During June, July and August last year 133 complaints were logged and that was down to 47 this year.

It means that of more than one million collections during the summer, only 0.005 per cent resulted in complaints.

Ten more permanent staff had been employed, reducing the need for agency staff, improving continuity and leading to a more motivated workforce, the committee was told.

And HGV drivers had been issued with better sat navs which reduced the chance them getting lost in the more rural areas.

The revamped recycling depot will be up and running in March once a new baler, capable of operating and processing recycling material faster, has been tested.

Other work include a new glass-covered collection area zone, a modular building for operations staff, along with a new weighbridge.

The process hall is being improved and external haulage companies will be removed from the council’s unloading area, greatly reducing the risk of an accidents.

A new fully electric HGV is “very popular with the crews” and is used around the more urban areas of Landkey and Barnstaple. It has completed 95 per cent of the rounds at Witheridge and South and North Molton.

Mr Kentell  said: “We put it through its paces but unfortunately it was running low on charge. It has a 100-mile range and what is really key is that we saved £994 on diesel that week and it cost us £26 to charge it up for whole week.”

The council is also looking at a ‘hydrogen electrolyser’ device which helped some older diesel engines run more efficiently.

With electric vehicles getting cheaper and technology improving, the authority hopes to swap its HGV diesels for electric when their 10-year lease comes to end.

“Depending on the diesel vehicle and type of electric [vehicle] we could save between 16 and 43 tonnes of carbon over a year,” said Mr Kentell.

“It’s HGVs we need to replace if we are going to make a dent into the carbon footprint, it is those and buildings that are the big ones,” said Cllr Ricky Knight (Green, Heanton Punchardon).

Five-metre gaps have to be left between electric lorries when charging them overnight.

“With the best will in the world, we would not be able to do that, so there are some logistics we have to think about,” he added.