But the council admits the works will cause further congestion in the short term.
Work at the Brunel Road centre, one of the county's biggest, starts next week and will include redesign of its internal road in a bid to banish existing bottlenecks. A second exit for vehicles leaving the Newton Abbot site will also be provided.
The garden waste area will be expanded with the existing two general waste bays replaced with a single, larger one. The council has also said it will improve the public resale area.
A council spokeswoman admitted that there had been traffic problems over the Easter weekend, but added that they were caused partly by a machine breaking down on the site. Last week's bank holiday saw “no more delays than any other bank holiday,” she added.
But, while development takes place at Brunel Road there will be temporary restrictions on opening times and the council does suggest people think about making other arrangements. It is feared that such restrictions could cause problems for the nearby Paignton recycling centre.
Devon’s executive member for the environment, David Morrish, said: “It is intended to keep the site open throughout the redevelopment works but it will be operating at a reduced capacity, and unfortunately that will result in delays. We hope people will see the long-term benefits and bear with us.”
Brunel Road was originally a pulverising plant that was used to crush domestic waste before it went to landfill. Devon said the site had slowly evolved into a recycling centre but had never been designed for that purpose.
The redevelopment is separate from a 350,000 “bulking centre” that is being established at Brunel Road by Teignbridge Council. The centre will act as a storage facility for household recyclables collected by the council's kerbside scheme, which has recovered 330 tonnes of waste to date.
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