FOLLOWING the roll-out of the new green box recycling containers in the summer for Mid Devon residents, Mid Devon District Council says it is really pleased to say that the amount of recycling has increased significantly.

Neal Davey, cabinet member for the environment, said: “All households now have cardboard collections, rather than just the urban areas.

"However, the biggest change has been the collection of mixed plastics which has increased by 23 tons to 103 tons in the last three months.

"This is really encouraging and hopefully, once all households are fully familiar with the new scheme, performance figures will rise even more.”

This increase in recycling has reduced the amount of landfill waste Mid Devon is generating per household as a result.

In addition, MDDC says dry recycling has increased by 25 per cent in the last three months.

However, the council says the success of any new scheme is dependent on public support and it is really pleased that residents have got on board with this part of the new scheme and are using the new green boxes well.

It says the roll-out of blue food caddies has now also been completed to the rest of the rural households across the District.

It added that this means all but 300 households (narrow access properties who will be bought on scheme in January) now have weekly food waste collections just in time for Christmas when the council normally see a 20 per cent increase in the amount of waste generated.

Cllr Davey added: “With all the Christmas holiday ‘eating and drinking’ we will be expecting to see a considerable increase in the amount of food waste being collected for recycling during the holiday period.”

Alan Quick