Sidmouth residents help recycling rate increases at Devon centres

SIDMOUTH residents have been thanked for helping the county council s recycling centres increase their recycling rate to 73 per cent in 2008/09.

SIDMOUTH residents have been thanked for helping the county council's recycling centres increase their recycling rate to 73 per cent in 2008/09.

With next week marking Recycle Week (June 22 to 28) the County Council has announced the figure, which is three per cent up on the previous year. Overall, 77,000 tonnes of material was recycled through the County Council's network of 28 recycling centres and rural skip sites in the last financial year. This equates to around 15,500 large lorry loads.

During the past year, over 105,000 televisions were brought in by householders to the sites which, if laid end to end, would stretch from Exeter to Ivybridge. And 34,000 fridges/freezers were processed - enough to stretch from Tiverton to South Molton if laid flat.

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council's Cabinet Member for Environmental and Regulatory Services, praised Devon residents and site staff for their efforts.

He said: "It is great to see the recycling rate increase for another year. This results in less waste going to landfill and more materials being recycled and re-used which is fantastic for Devon's environment. It is an impressive achievement to reach 73 per cent and I thank everyone for doing their bit and hope they continue to do so to improve further still."

In response to public demand, the extensive range of facilities have been expanded at most of the recycling centres over the past year to accept additional waste such as mixed plastic packaging, domestic batteries and cooking oil.