The consultation on the strategy, entitled Don't Let Devon Go To Waste, will last for three months, and it is hoped that it will be adopted as policy by November 2003. The strategy will provide a platform for a new waste management contract, which is due to kick off in April 2010.
Devon is already one of the top five counties in England for recycling, thanks to a long-standing successful partnership between authorities in the county. In 2001-02, over 380,000 tonnes of household waste was produced, of which 20.5% was recycled or composted. But the high recycling rate has brought with it high statutory targets for the county to reach – 33% recycling of household waste by 2003-04 and 36% by 2005-06.
Council David Morrish, Devon's executive member for waste management, said: “It is hoped that improvements to the current recycling and composting infrastructure will go some way to meeting these recycling targets, but there is still much that needs to be done.”
Awareness
The county has already launched a Rethink Rubbish public awareness campaign, funded by 1 million from DEFRA's National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund (see letsrecycle.com story). This has included a doorstepping project in which council officers talk to householders on their doorsteps to help them to recycle more, and a high-profile television advertising campaign, which caught local authorities' imaginations at the LARAC conference in November 2003.
The new waste strategy will set out a framework for dealing with household, commercial and industrial waste until 2025. It will set a target of 50% recycling or composting by 2015-16, and will seek to ensure that every household will have access to a kerbside recycling service “where practicable”.
Residual
The strategy will include measures to clamp down on fly-tipping, improve beach cleansing and maximise recycling rates at the county's civic amenity sites. The council has also said that the strategy is likely to contain some component of energy-from-waste in order to cut down on residual waste going to landfill.
Mr Morrish said: “The Landfill Directive sets further targets for the diversion of waste away from landfill, which means that we will need to recycle and compost much more than we are doing now, and also consider some form of energy recovery from that waste which is not recycled or composted.”
The draft strategy has been drawn up by Devon's local authorities with assistance from the Environment Agency. However, two unitary authorities in the county – Plymouth city council and Torbay council – are to develop their own strategies for managing waste.
Register for free to comment