The waste committee is the waste disposal authority for waste collection authorities across the county, including East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, West Devon and Torbay.
Written by Meg Booth, Devon county council’s director of climate change, environment and transport, the report points out that recyclable waste being placed into the wrong bins is costing the county an estimated £3.6 million annually.
The analysis stated the primary culprit was cardboard, with 61% of discarded cardboard found to be recyclable. In Torbay, this figure was even higher at 73%, and Torbay also exhibited a trend of recyclable textiles being discarded as residual waste, with a 84% being suitable for recycling.
The overall statistics for the potential recycling of residual waste were 41% in Devon and 58% in Torbay with misclassified recyclables in the wrong bins have incurred cost of £2 million for Torbay.
However, the county has seen a decrease in the amount of recyclables placed in residual waste in all areas – except film – since the last analysis took place in 2017.
Recycling Rate
In the 2022/23 report, it was revealed that the average recycling rate for Devon’s Waste Collection Authorities (WCAs) decreased from 49.8% in 2021/22 to 48.8%.
Within this average, WCAs that had enrolled in the Devon Shared Savings Scheme demonstrated an average performance of 53.4%, whereas those who did not participate achieved an average of 41.1%.
The most striking fall was from North Devon whose average fell 2.6% to 45.6%.
The combined recycling rate which includes waste collection authorities and household waste recycling centres for the area had seen a decrease of 1.1% in the amount of recyclables collected with the rate dropping to 54%.
‘Aligned option’
According to the report, local evidence, including measures of performance and resident satisfaction, indicates that what is known as the Aligned Option is yielding positive results.
DASWC’s ‘aligned option’ for kerbside collections includes weekly dry recycling and food waste collections, three weekly-residual waste collections and chargeable garden waste collections.
Notably, East Devon, an early adopter of the fully aligned service, achieved an recycling rate of 59.5%, ranking among the top 5 Waste Collection Authorities (WCAs) in England in 2021/22. Additionally, other WCAs such as North Devon (45.6%), Teignbridge (53.8%), Torridge (52.6%), West Devon (53.9%), and Torbay (38.2%) have also implemented the Aligned Option for their residents.
Meanwhile, Exeter (24.5%), Mid Devon (55.4%), and South Hams (44.8%) are either in the process of aligning closely or working on proposals to fully adopt the Aligned Option in the future.
The report mentions that DEFRA’s proposals for achieving consistency in recycling collections in England have faced delays. Furthermore, it is unlikely that these policies will be put into effect until after the delayed introduction of central Packaging Reform and Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) in 2025.
The Collection Conference – 15 November
Collection services, frequency and more are on the agenda of this year’s letsrecycle.com Collection Conference taking place on 15 November. To book tickets, and find out more, click here.
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