MADAM - The dumping of a wheelie bin by our front gate this week was very visual evidence that East Devon District Council s great recycling revolution is soon to arrive in Sidmouth.
MADAM - The dumping of a wheelie bin by our front gate this week was very visual evidence that East Devon District Council's great recycling revolution is soon to arrive in Sidmouth.
We had already been told what to expect in a four-page leaflet announcing the new service beginning in June, the wheelie being the first of four receptacles being distributed.
The leaflet details what goes where. Dry recyclables go into a weekly green box and food waste into a blue kitchen food caddy which is emptied into an outside bin for weekly collection.
So far so good. We then come to the fortnightly landfill waste collection facillitated by the wheelie which arrived this week.
What, we asked ourselves, goes in there after all our paper, newspapers, plastic bottles, textiles, telephone directories, household batteries, mixed glass, food and drink cans, foil and aerosols have gone into the weekly green recycling box?
Since the council's glossy information leaflet does not tell us, I sought to find out in a fact-finding call to the council.
"Pretty much what is not on the leaflet," I was told. What would that be? "Cardboard, food trays..," Anything else? "I'm struggling," came the reply. A helpful lady in the department at Knowle then came up with cat litter, nappies and cereal boxes.
So there we have it. Cardboard, food trays, pet litter, nappies and cereal boxes all go into landfill. Pity the council leaflet did not spell it out, though those giant wheelies are going to take some filling for homeowners without pets or babies!
"Point taken," said the council lady. "But if householders find it's too big we can supply a smaller one."
Kingsley Squire
Sunnycroft
Beatlands Road
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