Cost of dumping DIY waste to rise
Additional charges for certain types of waste will be brought in at Devon's recycling centres from 1 April.
Soil, rubble, tyres, plasterboard and asbestos have been charged for since 2011 but the same rules will now apply for plastic windows, plastic doors or door frames, baths or shower trays, shower screens, insulation materials, roofing felt and plastic downpipes, facias or guttering.
Visitors to recycling centres will be asked for £3.50 for each of these items, £3.50 for a bag or roll of insulation material or roofing felt. Guttering pipes will be charged at £3.50 for up to 5 lengths or pieces.
Recycling centres will continue to accept all other household waste free of charge including garden waste, fridges, freezers, large and small electrical items, wood, bric-a-brac and bulky household waste such as furniture, carpets and mattresses. For more information click here.
Although the Council is legally obliged to provide recycling centre facilities for household waste, items from the repair or improvement of houses such as DIY waste do not fall under this category.
In the past, the Council has provided this discretionary service free of charge, however it can no longer afford to do so in the current economic climate.
There are alternatives to council run facilities, such as hippo bags, generally available from DIY stores and skip hire. Re-use opportunities may exist (e.g. for re-usable building materials) via websites such as Freegle and Freecycle and tyres can be disposed of via a local tyre fitting outlet.
Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said: "Normal household waste can de disposed of free of charge at our recycling centres, however DIY waste has a cost attached to it and we think it's a fair compromise to bring in this charge. If a resident decides to do some home improvement works, we don't think it right that the costs of disposing of this material should be borne by other taxpayers."
“We have had to look very closely at our spending priorities in every single area of Council services. Although we have a legal obligation to deal with household waste. DIY and home improvement waste is not something we can continue to accept free of charge which we have done in the past."
Of course, residents still need somewhere to take this kind of material and the alternative would have been to stop allowing it altogether, therefore we think the best solution is to ask for a fee to go towards the cost of disposal."
"Along with other changes to the way we manage waste, we’ve saved around £4.7 million over the last 3 years, these latest changes are part of the £100 million savings the Council has to make by 2017."
