Recycling up in Mid Devon

And they're expecting better

Mid Devon’s recycling rates have gone up since the introduction of a new collection regime.

The district moved to a ‘Bin It 123’ service in October, with general black-bag waste now being picked up every three weeks. Food waste is collected weekly, while dry recycling and (chargeable) garden waste collections are every fortnight.

The council wants to increase recycling rates to 60 per cent by 2025 and 65 per cent by 2035 – in line with both Devon and national targets. Currently Mid Devon’s rate is 54 per cent.

However, at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday [7 February], deputy chief executive Andrew Jarrett revealed the percentage has increased “significantly” since the new system started and that is expected to continue in the next financial year.

“So we should, all things being equal, receive a significant increase in recycling income during the next year,” Mr Jarrett said.

Councils generate revenue from recycling being sold on for the material to be used in new ways.

Mid Devon is looking to move to weekly recycling collections at some point, recently agreeing a trial to be carried out for three months in the next financial year at an estimated cost of £30,000.

According to the Devon Authorities’ Strategic Waste Committee, Mid Devon and Exeter are the only two districts in Devon which still collect dry recycling fortnightly. The others collect theirs weekly.

But the change is likely to be expensive, potentially costing the authority an extra £1.4 million per year, a recent in-house report revealed.

It explained: “A decision to move to the delivery of weekly recycling collections would require waste and recycling moving to a larger site with additional capacity to accommodate the extra vehicles and the potential extra recycling.”

Nine more bin collection lorries would be needed, along with a significant increase in staff, and the extra vehicles would nearly double the amount of fuel used by the waste fleet.

On Mid Devon’s recycling rate increasing since the Bin It 123 scheme was launched, cabinet member Councillor Richard Chesterton (Conservative, Lower Culm) said it is “good to hear that recycling is going in the right direction.”