The amount of local authority collected waste reused, recycled and composted in Devon fell to 54% last year.
Data released by Devon county council shows that the recycling rate fell by 1.7 percentage points in 2017/18, from a rate of 55.7% in the previous financial year.
HWRCs in Devon no longer being able to recycle carpets and mattresses in one factor which affected recycling rates
HWRCs
According to a document for meeting of the authority’s waste committee last week, the reduction was predominantly due to household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) no longer being able to recycle mattresses and carpets.
“Markets were becoming more and more difficult to find and the new contract in April 2017 meant that they became unaffordable,” the document states. “In addition, there has been a tightening of acceptable markets for recycling wood and now only higher grade wood can be recycled with the lower grade sent for recovery.” (see letsrecycle.com story)
Devon’s HWRC rate decreased by 9.4% to 72% last year, from 81.4% in 2016/17. The 18 HWRCs are operated by Suez on behalf of the county council.
Recyclables
At seven out of ten local authorities in Devon, the recycling rate decreased in 2017/18, “generally due to reductions in ‘dry’ recyclables collected via kerbside and banks”.
In 2017/18, overall recycling tonnage for Devon authorities reduced by 8,524 tonnes, with the most notable decrease through HWRCs (-7,619t). The greatest kerbside material gains were for plastics (+8,86t, 13% increase) and food waste (+6,468t, 53% increase).
East Devon
Despite the fall in recycling rate across the county, on an individual level, East Devon council jumped by 8.1 percentage points to 54.2%. This is put down to a move to a 3-weekly residual collection across the district, as well as extending collections to mixed plastics and cardboard.
Recycling and waste collections in East Devon are carried out by Suez
The district council launched the service in partnership with its waste contractor Suez in June 2017, switching from collecting residual waste every fortnight to collecting waste every three weeks and collecting recyclables and food waste weekly (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, East Devon and Exeter have “consistently performed well” in terms of waste generation, the report states,” through remaining within the top 10 lowest waste producing WCAs nationally”. Devon’s waste arising across the county is now down to 453.9 kg/head.
Recycling rates
Last month, letsrecycle.com reported that some in the sector expect recycling rates for England to be lower in 2017/18 than the previous year (see letsrecycle.com story). Since then, figures released by the Welsh Government have shown a reduction in recycling across local authorities in Wales to 62.7% (see letsrecycle.com story).
Official figures for local authority collected waste in England are expected to published by Defra later this year.
The post Devon sees recycling rates dip appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
