This spring South Hams District Council is launching a new drive to increase recycling rates and become more efficient and as part of this drive they are making changes to some of their waste collections.
Those residents who are affected by the changes will receive a postcard through the door in the next two weeks, followed by more detailed information before the changes come into effect on 18th April.
As Cllr Rufus Gilbert, Executive Portfolio Holder for Commercial Services, explains: “These changes are essential if the Council wants to increase recycling rates. It will mean that some residents who currently do not recycle will soon receive a collection service that will enable them to do so.
“We have a small number of residents, mainly concentrated in the Dartmouth, Kingsbridge, Ivybridge, Salcombe and Totnes areas, who are still on a weekly black sack collection. Having residents in the District unable to recycle their waste was always a situation which the Council needed to improve upon.
“In a move to enable more homes to recycle, some will be able to use bins and receive a fortnightly collection cycle, where waste is collected one week and recycling is collected the following week. This is consistent with how we collect waste across the whole District.
“For a number of residents who remain on a black sack collection, a weekly food waste service will be introduced to ensure that this element of the waste stream is collected frequently, the remaining household waste will be collected fortnightly as we do across the rest of the District.
“A quarter of household waste is food waste which can easily be recycled. If we don’t start to make these changes many residents would continue to be unable to contribute to our recycling achievements. Unfortunately a very small number of properties will still be unable to enjoy the full recycling service – these households will find no change to their current arrangements at this time.”
A consultation was conducted in 2013, which showed that residents wanted a more consistent and efficient service which boosts recycling.
From 11th April officers from South Hams District Council will be delivering information cards to the homes that are affected, residents do not need to do anything at that time. If residents would like more information about the changes they can visit the South Hams website.
Alternativley if residents would like to speak to an officer about these changes, South Hams District Council will be running a series of roadshows in Kingsbridge, Dartmouth, Salcombe and Totnes, where the majority of the homes are located. Times and dates of the roadshows will be posted on the Council’s website.
