Western Morning News (Saturday)
Glass collections from the kerbside delayed
EXETER residents will have to keep taking their glass to bottle banks after the city council delayed the rollout of a kerbside collection service indefinitely.
In 2019, Exeter City Council’s executive voted to back the principle of changing the way waste is collected in the city and to move to a three-weekly model as used in East Devon.
Under the proposals, glass would be collected from the kerbside rather than residents having to take their empty bottles and jars to recycling banks around the city.
Householders would be issued with a food waste bin and a kitchen caddy.
That was initially due to have been introduced by the summer of 2021, but plans had stalled – with councillors at Wednesday’s full council meeting hearing that the pandemic was the main reason for the delay, along with setbacks in buying the electric vehicles needed to operate the service.
The ruling Exeter Labour Party said in March this year that it is “preparing to deliver on its commitment to provide food waste and glass collection from every household in the city” and “it is expected that this service will commence in the autumn”.
But the meeting saw members vote to retain fortnightly recycling and waste collections, although they would begin a pilot food waste collection service in at least one area from the autumn. However, no date has been given for when glass will be collected from outside homes.
Instead, the authority said it will “wait for further guidance from the government on the current consultation process for the consistency of collections.”
Exeter’s recycling rates are currently the worst in Devon, at 26% of total waste collected. By comparison, neighbouring East Devon recycles 61% of its waste, and in Mid Devon the figure is 53%
Devon County Council’s officer in charge of waste last year said the city’s recycling performance “needs attention”.
Cllr David Harvey, portfolio holder for city management, told the full council meeting: “I and my colleagues are not prepared to rush a half-baked service. We are unswerving in our dedication and commitment to provide a kerbside surplus waste collection and a kerbside glass collection service for all the residents of Exeter in an equal manner.”
He added: “It will be done as soon as reasonably practicable. You will understand, as many of you are commercial people, that when it comes to purchasing, the larger authorities – the cities who purchase hundreds of refuse collection vehicles at one time – will clearly be further up the queue than we will.
“The staff are working their socks off to deliver this for the residents.”