East Devon's new recycling service begins next week

With just days to go before the start of East Devon District Council’s new improved recycling service which begins on Monday June 12, residents are being reminded to refer carefully to the information they have been sent to ensure they are aware of their collection days, what they can recycle and how to separate the items between their box and new sack.

Cardboard, plastics, cartons and small electrical goods have been added to the extensive number of recycling items that residents can currently recycle which includes food waste, paper, glass bottles and jars, tins and cans, textiles, shoes, foil and batteries.

Over the last few days, more than 50,000 households will have received their new green sack or containers in which to collect their extra recyclables. Residents will also have received further detailed information about the new service and they are being asked to read their leaflets carefully and keep them handy. If they have any questions, please get in touch with the district council as we are here to help.

The new service, which has already started in Exmouth, means that all residents will be able to recycle more items than ever before and these will be collected every week from the kerbside. As householders will be able to recycle more and throw away less bulky rubbish, grey wheeled waste bins will be collected every three weeks.

The council is asking residents to be particularly careful with separating the correct items in to their box and new sack. Cardboard, small electrical items, paper, glass bottles and jars, textiles and shoes and batteries go in to the green recycling boxes. Plastics (including yoghurt pots, plastic meat and vegetable trays, margarine and ice cream tubs and plastic bottles), cartons and Tetra Paks, tins and cans, aerosols and foil (including trays) go in to the new green sack. The council is unable to recycle plastic film or wrappers, polystyrene or take-out pizza boxes due to the food residue that may be on the cardboard casing.

Almost 17,000 households in Exmouth started to use the new service in mid-February in the first phase of the roll out. Within the first nine weeks of the new service, residents were recycling almost 60% of their waste – an increase in recycling of 15%.

Residents have been asking the council, through surveys, to help them recycle more and waste less for some time and in 2015 more than 1,300 households in two East Devon areas trialled the new service. The trials in Exmouth (The Colony) and new Feniton, proved so successful, that residents asked for the service to continue.

Careful planning has gone in to introducing the new service across the district and with the thousands of homes to collect recycling and waste from, the council and its contractors SUEZ are advising that there could be some limited disruption as collections settle down.

The council is appealing to residents to be patient during this period and to contact them if they have concerns or questions.

Mark Williams, East Devon District Council’s Chief Executive, said: "Our message to our residents is that we’re here to help you through these changes and we hope that you have all the information you need. If you don’t, then please contact our dedicated team of recycling officers who will be happy to advise you and can also come and meet you to try and help resolve any issues you may have.

"The new service will make it easier for our residents to recycle more and in order for us to achieve this we have had to make some major changes to our usual collection routes. This has meant some day and week changes to collections for some of our residents which may take a while to get used to.

"You may find that your collections will be a little earlier in the day than usual or a little later which is why we are asking households to have their recycling and waste ready for collection at the kerbside by 7am.

"We have worked hard with our contractors SUEZ to minimise any disruption, but there will inevitably be a small number of issues initially as everyone gets used to the changes."

The council has been holding an extensive public awareness campaign to promote the changes and thousands of people have been learning more about the new service at a series of information days.

These events are a great opportunity to find out more about the new service and the next event will be at Axe Vale Festival on Saturday 17 June from 10am to 5.30pm.

More events are planned over the next few weeks and the council will be sending out information as they are organised.

Further information about the new service is available on the council’s website – www.eastdevon.gov.uk/onboard and includes a full list of what residents will be able to recycle. You can also follow the council’s social media service on Facebook at East Devon District Council and @eastdevon on twitter.

If you want to be kept fully up-to-date about your new collections, download the council’s really useful smart phone app which will send you reminders about your collection days tailored to your own address. The East Devon mobile app is free and is available to download from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
If you need assistance or advice about the new service, please contact us on 01395 571515.