Council to review roll-out of three-weekly bin collections

Mid Devon District Council is planning to introduce black bag bin collections every three weeks

Details on how the roll-out of a three-weekly bin collection will work in parts of Devon will be heard next week.

Mid Devon District Council cabinet, which approved the plans in February, will review the operational arrangements on Tuesday.

Under the plans, food waste will be collected weekly, recycling and garden waste collected every two weeks and non-recyclable waste every three weeks.

More than 37,000 wheelie bins are due to be delivered for the October launch.

Trials took place in 2021 in both urban and rural areas including Holcombe Rogus and Canal Hill in Tiverton.

The council said the results were "favourable with significant increases to recycling rates being demonstrated and positive feedback received".

As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council said it was committed to increase recycling rates to 60% by 2025 and 65% by 2035 in line with both county-wide and national targets.

Currently the rate is about 53% - a figure that has "remained fairly static for a number of years".

The cost of the change is estimated to be £890,000, including £750,000 for buying bins and anti-seagull sacks and delivering them to properties.

Long-term savings are projected to be about £160,000 a year, which does not include the potential extra revenue from more recycling being collected and sold on.