Have your say on waste management
Residents in Devon are being invited to share their views on the County Council’s plans to make savings to its waste management service.
The changes, which could save the service around £265,000 next year, are part of the £100 million savings Devon County Council has to make by 2017 in response to spending reductions imposed by the Government.
The six week consultation sets out proposals to ask residents to pay towards the cost of disposing of waste materials from the repair or improvement of their houses, including UPVC windows and door, baths or shower trays, shower screens, insulation materials, roofing felt and PVC downpipes and guttering.
The charge is likely to be around £3.50 per item, which will help cover the Council’s costs of handling and disposing of them.
All other household waste items, such as furniture, garden waste and electrical appliances, will continue to be accepted free of charge.
Currently charges also apply for the disposal of non-household items including soil and rubble, plasterboard, asbestos and tyres. The rates for these items are being reviewed as part of the suggested changes.
The Council is also proposing to stop paying recycling credits for textiles to third parties. Currently discretionary credits of £55 per tonne are paid to registered groups, and last year this totalled £65,500. However, the current buoyant textile market means that the price for household textiles can attract sums in excess of £350 per tonne, so the credit payments are no longer act as a real incentive compared to the income the registered groups could receive from its high resale value.
Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment Services, said:
“Over the three years we’ve managed to save around £4.7 million by changing the way we manage our waste in Devon, which is great news.
“But we’ve still got more savings to make, and this means we must continue to look closely at what services we have to provide and those we do on a discretional basis so we can use our resources most effectively.
“Although we have a legal obligation to provide recycling centres for household waste to be accepted free of charge, this does not include waste from DIY house improvements, and the cost of disposing of this sort of waste cannot be sustained in light of the Council’s reduced budgets.
“We don’t want to stop accepting these types of waste as we recognise that residents need somewhere to dispose of such items. However, we feel introducing a small charge to cover the cost of handling this sort of waste is a fair compromise.
“Our second proposed change is to our discretionary recycling credit scheme, which continues to grow year on year, and so too does the amount we pay in disposal charges.
“Last year we paid £65,500 in recycling credits for the 1192 tonnes of textiles we collected, however this amount would have attracted an income of around £400,000 at market value, without the credits.
“These changes mean we won’t spend tax payers’ money offering an incentive for people to recycle textiles, when given its high market value, it is likely those groups registered with us to receive the recycling credits would continue to collect it anyway without payment from us as they can make far in excess of the money we are offering elsewhere.
“We think these proposals offer a good opportunity to make meaningful savings whilst continuing to maintain an important service to residents. But we want to know what you think. We want to receive feedback from people and we’re keen to hear their ideas.
“This is an opportunity for the public to give us their view on the proposals, how they feel this will impact on them, and whether they have any suggestions of alternative ideas to save money. I would encourage everyone to get involved with this consultation.”
The consultation on the proposed budget savings for the waste management service will close on 19th November.
For more information and to take part in the consultation please visit https://new.devon.gov.uk/wastebudget/
