Waste service consultation begins

Devon County Council (DCC) is inviting residents to have their say on proposed changes to its waste management service.

The changes at Devon’s Household Waste Recycling Centres include length restrictions on vehicles using the sites, charging for the disposal of all plastic construction and demolition DIY waste and an amendment to the list of non-acceptable wastes.

Changes are also proposed to ensure that the amount DCC pays community groups to compost waste is comparable with the authority’s own composting costs.

The proposals are part of a public consultation launched today, Friday 4th November 2016.

At Recycling Centres charges currently apply for the disposal (by residents) of a range of Plastic DIY items. To avoid confusion on site it is proposed to extend the charges to include all plastic construction and demolition (DIY) waste.

There are also proposals to exclude some additional larger vehicles from recycling centres. Under the proposals pick up trucks towing trailers and long wheelbase vans (in excess of six metres in total length) will be excluded. This will reduce congestion on site and the opportunity for traders to try to access the sites illegally.

It is also proposed not to accept heating type oil tanks of all sizes at the sites which will reduce the risk of pollution from oil residues and sludge within the tanks and remove the health and safety issues involved in handling such items on site.

The final proposal is a change to the Community Composting Credit rate. Currently discretionary recycling credits are paid to 25 community composting groups across the county.

This scheme avoids the waste being composted by the council and provides a useful material which is used as a soil conditioner.

Currently the credit rate varies from £49-£58 per tonne depending on the tonnes composted. This rate approximates to the current contract rate for dealing with garden waste.
However from April 2017 the council proposes a lower rate with a new contract in line with the national average of £25 per tonne.

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment, said:

“We of course want to continue to support community groups but it is hard to justify continuing to pay a higher rate to community groups when the council could manage this waste more cheaply.

“Minor modifications to the Chargeable Waste Scheme, vehicle restrictions and non acceptable waste policies at DCC Household Waste Recycling Centres will reduce confusion and congestion and improve on-site safety.”

Please visit the consultation pages at https://new.devon.gov.uk/haveyoursay/ before the deadline of 23rd December 2016.