The 650,000 centre at Okehampton will take glass, textiles, newspaper, garden waste, cardboard, cans, metal, wood, plastic, engine oil and re-usable household goods.
The site has replaced a weekly rural skip waste disposal service and has a target of recycling 60% of all household waste received during this financial year.
 Cllr Mike Lee of Devon county council with Dominic Treacher, recycling manager at Devon Waste Management |
Speaking at the opening of the facility, Devon county council vice chairman Mike Lee said: “It is great to see new recycling facilities provided for use by the people of Okehampton who have had to rely on a rural skip until now. I hope they will make good use of the wide range of recycling facilities available. It is very important that we all work together to recycle or re-use as much material as possible to reduce the amount sent to landfill.”
Councillor Lee added: “The council is very proud of this site, where recycled materials have played a major part in its construction.”
Almost all of the material for the base of the site has come from by-products of the council's road maintenance work, while tarmac for the road access is made from waste material from the Meldon Quarry and 10% crushed glass from the council's bring banks. The site also uses recycled aggregates from China Clay spoil heaps and 100% recycled glass aggregates in its blockwork. Cladding and fencing at the Okehampton site is made from Plaswood, which comes from recycled black bin liners, while even the signage is made with a core of recycled material.
Council spokeswoman Pam Newby said: “The construction of Okehampton's new recycling centre marks another milestone in Devon county council's commitment to recycle or re-use materials whenever possible. The centre is the first in the county, and possibly in the country, to be built using mainly recycled or reused materials.”
The sustainable construction project was undertaken by the council's Engineering Design Group with civil engineers Warwick Contractors. The new signage and an information board, which provides information and advice on recycling and waste, were designed by local firm Lionheart Marketing Communications.
Overall, Devon is investing 3.1 million into its civic amenity sites and recycling centres, of which 2.6 million will be invested into existing and new recycling centres. The council hopes to increase the proportion of waste recycled from its recycling centres from around 45% to 60%.
Devon’s current recycling rate of 21% puts it in the top five counties in England, but it has targets to reach 33% for 2003-04 and 36% for 2005-06
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