Statistics for the fiscal year 2021/22, which ran from April 2021 to March 2022, will be compiled in a report to be presented to the Devon Authority’s Strategic Waste Committee at its meeting this week (19 October). I’m here.
The Waste Board is the waste disposal authority for the county-wide waste collection authorities including East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teinbridge, Tridge, West Devon and Torbay.
Written by Meg Booth, Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transportation for the Devon County Council, the report found that in contrast to the countywide trend, East Devon reached its highest ever recycling rate, It points to an increase of 1% from 60%. 2020/21.
Alongside East Devon, Torbay recorded an increase of 1.4% in 2021/22, bringing its Waste Collection Authority’s recycling rate to 37.1%.
The rest of the county’s waste collection authorities have found recycling rates to be flat or declining.
The document attributes the decline in recycling to disruptions in services and changes in residents’ behavior due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Alignment Options”
The report states: “East Devon, the highest performing state in Devon, was the first Devon state authority to exceed her 60% recycling rate in 2019/20 through a comprehensive ‘coordination option’ curb recovery service. was. “
DASWC curbside collection ‘linked options’ include weekly dry recycling and food waste collection, three weekly residual waste collections, and fee-based yard waste collection.
According to the council, the coordinated option would have the same materials collected at the same frequency in Devon and Torbay, creating “simplicity” for householders and financial gain.
Descent
The sharpest decline was recorded at the South Hams, where recycling decreased by 8% compared to the previous year. The report explains that this was “mainly the result of service interruptions caused by several factors.” He added that action was being taken.
In Exeter, the report said the recycling rate fell from 2.3% to 25.5%. This was the agency’s lowest performance since 2004 and 11% lower than its peak of 36.9% in 2010/11, it continued. In this case, steps have also been taken to “improve the performance of the materials recycling facility and introduce a pilot food waste collection that will allow Exeter to begin improving its current performance”.
Future Plans
The report outlines the Devon Authority’s plans to conduct a waste composition analysis of the residual waste stream this fall. These results enable more targeted and relevant communication and engagement with residents, set in place to ensure the right waste goes into the right bin, resulting in subsequent performance improvements and cost savings. lead to reduced benefits.
Additionally, further work to reduce costs and improve performance is said to be underway at the Torbay and Devon household waste recycling centers. At Torbay, this includes building and non-household stream charges introduced in 2021 and a site reservation service that allows only domestic users to access sites containing household waste.
In Devon, charges already apply to non-home streams and authorities continue to roll out van permitting schemes, the document continued. The Devon scheme will start for Exeter HWRC in April, he said, “leading to reduced waste and less congestion at the site”. His HWRC in Teignbridge and East Devon started van permitting in July. The plan will cover all of his HWRCs in Devon by 2023.
