New Torbay recycling scheme up and running
October 1, 2010 at 2:29 pm
A new recycling scheme has just started in Torbay, Devon. The introduction of the scheme means that 60,000 households will now have to take time sorting out more of their rubbish in order to make it easier to recycle. Unsurprisingly, the scheme has proved to be controversial.
The aim of the new scheme, according to operators Tor2, is to get the recycling rate up to 50% of all waste by the year 2012. It claims that this will allow the council to save £14 million in landfill costs every year. In all, the scheme cost £2 million to set up and five years to come to fruition.
However, angry residents have been complaining that the scheme is too complicated, leading to thousands of calls to the council in the first few days alone. On top of the scheme proving unnecessarily confusing for many residents, there have been traffic problems caused by the new lorries which make the collections.
Residents now have a lot more work to do to throw out their weekly rubbish. They are now expected to separate their waste into three boxes: one for glass, foil and cardboard; another for cans, paper, plastic bottles and other materials; and a third outdoor bin for food waste. The rubbish will be picked up in a weekly collection.
The aim is to allow the council to reach the recycling targets that have been set by the European Union. The £14 million in savings will be made from not having to pay the landfill taxes and fines.
Leave a Reply