News, views and Events in and around Bigbury, South Devon

Posts tagged recycling

A Merry re-cycling Christmas from South Hams – important advice!

November 27, 2019 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

31/10/2019

As residents begin their Christmas shopping, South Hams District Council wants them to be aware of what they can and cannot recycle this year.

From mince pies cases, to advent calendars, crackers and wrapping paper, South Hams are arming their residents with a simple how to list for recycling this year.

With their partners from WRAP (The Waste and Resources Action Programme) and Recycle Devon – residents are also being encouraged to reduce, reuse and recycle more this festive season.

Cllr Keith Baldry, South Hams District Council’s Executive Member for the Environment said: “Every year we see so many things thrown into the grey bin at Christmas, that could have been reused or recycled. But with a little bit of guidance from us, we hope residents will take time and reduce, reuse and recycle more this year.”

On the list of items that South Hams are asking residents to think about are: Advent Calendars; they can be separated into different materials, the card can be placed in the blue sack, and the foil can go in the clear sack and then all you need to put in the grey bin is the plastic tray.

Likewise mince pie boxes can go in your blue sack, the clean foil cases can be scrunched and put in the clear sack and all you need to put in the grey bin is the plastic tray. Plastic pots, tubs and trays can be taken to your nearest recycling centre for recycling. (For more details see the links to the chart and website below).

As last year, South Hams District Council will not be collecting wrapping paper for recycling, or Christmas cards with sparkles, glitter, ribbons or bows. So this year the Council is encouraging residents to get creative and come up with sustainable alternatives to traditional wrapping paper and cards.

Cllr Keith Baldry, added: “Although the reason for this press release is to inform residents about the items they can recycle this year, there is also an important message about reducing waste altogether.

“Each year the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign by WRAP publish great advice on how to make the most of festive food. We will be sharing these with our residents throughout the festive season. Reducing food waste is one of my big ambitions. Did you know a quarter of the waste placed in the grey bins is food that could have been recycled.”

“Likewise our partners Recycle Devon publish tips for reducing, and reusing materials. They also provide information which will help you decide if you should go for a real or a fake tree.”

Residents who have a real Christmas Tree, 6ft or smaller, can put this out for recycling alongside their brown bin from 6 January.
South Hams District Council would like to wish you all very merry recycling Christmas.

For more information about what can be recycled this Christmas at South Hams District Council visit our website.

For more information from Love Food Hate Waste

For more information from Recycle Devon

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Recycling & Waste collections over the Early May Bank Holiday

March 13, 2019 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

Click on the link for details:- SH Adverts 2019_Early May

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Your Waste and Recycling Services – A new partnership

December 19, 2018 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

18/12/18

South Hams District and West Devon Borough Councils will be working in partnership with FCC Environment to provide waste collection, recycling and street and toilet cleaning services from the 1st April 2019.

Following a competitive tendering process, South Hams and West Devon Councils have awarded the contract for your Waste Recycling and Cleaning services to FCC Environment which will save over £5 million in the next 8 years. As well as continuing to deliver the key services for each council, the new contract will offer extra services which will help to improve the local environment.

Cllr John Tucker, Leader of South Hams District Council said: “I am delighted to bring this news to our residents. It not only offers better value for money for the tax payer, but also huge environmental benefits. Big improvements are coming to the recycling service over the next two years. I am looking forward to working with FCC Environment who are bringing their industry knowledge and expertise into our services.

“We have been listening to residents and we know that you want to be able to recycle more at the kerbside, particularly glass and mixed plastics. It will take a little while to put everything in place but the good news is that you will be able to recycle more from the kerbside by the end of 2020.”

Cllr Philip Sanders, Leader of West Devon Borough Council said: “I am absolutely delighted that we have been able to make such substantial savings at a time when we are facing a huge budget gap. The bonus is that will be able to improve vital services and increase our recycling rate even more over the coming years.”

Steve Longdon, Regional Director for FCC Environment said: “We are one of the UK’s most trusted resource and waste management businesses. We hold over 100 contracts with some 60 local authorities up and down the country recycling more than 1.6 million tonnes of waste each year and so we consider ourselves to be a safe pair of hands . Ever since Blue Planet 2, residents have been more interested than ever before in re-using, reducing and recycling so it’s a great time to be rolling out new and enhanced services that will allow residents in South Hams and West Devon to do just that.”

Residents should not see any immediate changes to services and the Councils will be working closely with FCC Environment over the coming months to plan the changes to the recycling collection services. Will be provided more details on the improvements over the coming months.

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Rubbish collection dates for Christmas

December 17, 2018 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts
Rubbish collection dates for Christmas

See below:-

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AN IMPORTANT SEASONAL MESSAGE: Recycling at Christmas – all wrapped up and nowhere to go

December 17, 2018 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

This Christmas South Hams District Council is asking residents to help them handle a problem which is affecting many councils up and down the country.

This year many of the companies who process paper and card for local councils are saying that they can no longer take any wrapping paper at all. This means that wrapping paper cannot be put into your blue recycling sacks, it needs to go into your grey bin instead.

Cllr Rufus Gilbert, Executive Member for Commercial Services explains: “We know this is a bit of an issue for residents, many of whom have already bought their wrapping paper. But our hands are tied; if the processors will not take the wrapping paper there is nothing we can do.

“Unfortunately this is the same for the County Council’s recycling centres too, whose processors are also saying no wrapping paper this year.”

It is the materials that go into making some wrapping paper that cause the problem. Wrapping paper is often dyed, laminated and/or contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver coloured shapes, glitter, plastics etc. which is why it cannot be recycled.

Some wrapping paper is also very thin and contains few good quality fibres for recycling and because so many people leave sticky tape attached to wrapping paper it makes it very difficult to recycle.

These are some of the reasons why the companies who process our waste have decided not to accept wrapping paper this year.

Cllr Gilbert continued: “Residents can really help us this year by recycling as much of the recyclable materials as they can, to make room in their grey bin for the non-recyclable materials. Food waste is one of the biggest recyclables that often ends up in the grey bin. Please make an extra effort this year to recycle your food waste or freeze your left overs. Clean aluminium foil can go into your clear sacks, along with all plastic bottles, drinks and food cans, empty aerosol cans. Cardboard, ordinary paper, brown paper, envelopes, and drinks cartons can go into the blue sack. Don’t forget plastic yoghurt pots, tubs and trays can be taken to your nearest recycling centre.”

This year South Hams also wanted to remind residents that real Christmas trees shorter than 6ft, can be put it out for collection alongside their brown bin.

For more information about recycling and for great tips, advice and recipes for leftovers, please visit:

https://www.recycledevon.org/

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Waste and Recycling Service – impending change

December 7, 2018 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

A future partnership – Environmental benefits and better value for money

A new multi million pound contact has been approved by South Hams District Council for recycling, waste and cleansing services enabling the Council to save over £3 million pounds over the life of the contract and improving our environmental impact. The new services will be delivered to a high standard from 1st April 2019 as part of a new partnership agreement with a private company.

This is a brave new step for the South Hams who have provided these services through the Council’s own workforce for many years. The decision was made following a very intensive and thorough tendering process lasting almost two years. This included robust market testing giving full consideration to every single element of the current services to ensure best value and best quality for residents.

The staff who currently collect the waste and recycling and clean the district will transfer to the new partner company, whose name will be announced on the 18th December following the formal 10 day legal “standstill” period. South Hams District Council have ensured that their valued workforce will continue to provide services with protected terms and conditions and without the need for redundancies.

The future service will offer householders the opportunity to recycle even more of our household waste from the kerbside from September 2020.

Cllr Rufus Gilbert, Executive Member for Commercial Services said: “We have been listening to what residents wanted – more items being recycled and a continued focus on keeping our beautiful district clean and this will be delivered through the new arrangement at a better price. This new contract will enable us to continue improving recycling and street services throughout the term of the contract.”

ENDS

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South Hams Looking to Improve Recycling Services

August 3, 2018 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

31/7/18
South Hams District Council is looking at new ways to move forward with their recycling and waste service.
The South Hams has enjoyed a high recycling rate for some years and is currently second in the Devon ratings, however changes in legislation, rising market costs and decreases in the value of recycling material, make it more and more difficult to meet ever-changing needs without a change to our service.
Many other councils already enjoy a weekly collection of recycling materials from the kerbside. In order to improve our current service we need to increase the number of materials we collect from the kerbside weekly to include glass, textiles, plastic pots, tubs and trays and offer a weekly food waste collection service.
The Council is looking to align its service with our Devon neighbours to make sure we divert as much useful recycling material as possible from incineration. This means, a service will be designed which has the greatest environmental and cost benefits we can operationally achieve, and which is similar in design to that of other councils in the area.
By having a similar recycling and waste system across the county, it will make the service easier for residents if they move between authorities. It also helps us to benefit from economies of scale when selling recycling materials and helps the County Council to provide cost effective disposal routes.
The move to the Devon Aligned Service is likely to be in place by the end of September 2020 to allow time for changes to take place with the least disruption to residents.
A procurement project is also currently underway to look at testing our frontline services for recycling and waste, street and toilet cleaning in the market place. This means a company could be contracted to deliver these services on behalf of South Hams District Council if they can offer better value for money and a better quality of service can be achieved. The Council is doing this to improve both the cost and quality of services to householders.
Cllr Rufus Gilbert, Portfolio Holder for Commercial Services, said: “We are working really hard under very difficult economic circumstance to deliver a quality service which is cost effective and environmentally friendly. By looking at the potential benefits of outsourcing our services and aligning to the Devon waste and recycling service, we will be addressing both of these targets.
“It is a really exciting time and it’s important to us that we get it right for our residents.”
ENDS

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Recycling tips for plastic tops and jar lids in South Hams

April 24, 2018 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

See this link for helpful detail and access to further informations:-

Keep your top on – online version

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