RESIDENTS in Mid Devon should now be receiving leaflets with information about changes to recycling and waste arrangements being rolled out across the district this autumn.

This second phase will see a new weekly food waste collection and an optional paid-for garden waste collection service.

The leaflets will include details about the new food waste and optional garden waste collections and over a period of approximately 11 weeks from the beginning of October, Mid Devon District Council will be delivering a new blue food waste kerbside caddy, a second leaflet, a new collection calendar which runs until September 2016 and details about how to subscribe to the new garden waste scheme.

The changeover from the old scheme to the new scheme will take three months from October to December, although for most households in towns and larger villages, changeover should be complete by mid-November.

For some households, there will be a gap between their existing calendar ending and delivery of the new calendar, and residents are asked to continue putting out their recycling and waste on the same weeks as they do now.

No households will have their day of collection changed under the new scheme.

Cllr Neal Davey, cabinet member for the environment, said: “I’d like to say a big thank you to Mid Devon residents for really getting behind the changes to recycling. Comparing June and July this year to the same two months last year, ‘dry’ recycling has gone up by 50 per cent and the amount of waste we’ve had to send to landfill has gone down by almost 100 tonnes. This is a fantastic improvement.

“We know many residents want their food waste collected weekly, and we hope they will quickly get used to using their new blue kerbside caddy.

“We understand that some people will not like the fact that we are starting to charge for collecting garden waste, but we have tried to make the service affordable by giving various options at different costs.

“As part of the drive to increase recycling rates and cut down the amount of waste sent to landfill, we will also be making a concerted effort to educate, inform, encourage and support people to start recycling and to put the right materials in the right box or container.

“Only as a last resort, will we use enforcement against residents who persistently refuse to recycle or who, for example, continuously try to hide garden waste in their black bags for landfill.

“We expect this to only be a very small number of cases.”

To find out more see the website: www.middevon.gov.uk/newrecycling or to ask the council a question email: [email protected] or telephone 01884 255255.