The centre, at the Hopton Road Industrial Estate near Devizes, is part of the county council's strategy to reduce the 250,000 tonnes of household waste that it sends to landfill each year. It has been built by the county's waste disposal contractor Hills Recycling, which will also operate the site.
Speaking at the launch of the site, the council's cabinet member for waste and planning, Toby Sturgis, said: “This is a most welcome addition to our recycling service to help reduce the ever-increasing cost of waste disposal in landfill sites. The mountain of rubbish produced by households is increasing by 5% a year, dumping this into a hole in the ground damages the environment and will cost the county council an extra 610,000 this year, the equivalent of 0.5% on the Council Tax.”
Residents can take a variety of household rubbish to the new centre for recycling, including paper, glass, cans, textiles, cardboard, green waste, timber, metals, fridges and cookers, rubble and soil.
Car batteries and oil are also welcome at the centre for processing and recycling, while bulky household rubbish can be taken to the centres prior to disposal at landfill sites.
Alan Pardoe, Hills Group managing director, said: “We are delighted to be opening this new recycling facility in Devizes. It is the eighth to be built by Hills Recycling in Wiltshire. In fact we also built our first centre in Kennet at Everleigh. The new centre should make a significant impact on recycling levels.
“The combination of mini recycling sites, ever-expanding kerbside collections and these recycling centres makes the recycling of household waste increasingly easy and convenient.”
Wiltshire county council is a member of the Wiltshire Waste Partnership, a collaboration between the county council and the four district councils – Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury and West Wiltshire – working together to tackle waste issues across Wiltshire.
The county recycled just over 19% of its household waste in 2002/03, and has targets to reach a recycling and composting rate of 26% by 2003/04 and 33% by 2005/06.
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