Waste management company FCC Environment began a contract providing waste and recycling collections in the Devon district in April 2019 (see letsrecycle.com story).
In March 2021, FCC Environment rolled out service changes across South Hams in a bid to improve recycling rates. However, the service was beset by problems from the outset, including missed collections and some vehicles being too large for parts of the area (see letsrecycle.com story).
In July, the council decided to bring the services in-house to do “everything in its power” to provide “stable and reliable” waste and recycling collections for residents.
Almost nine weeks since the transfer, South Hams says, the council is now completing all collection rounds as “currently scheduled” and has reduced the number of reported missed collections by around 75%.
South Hams is due to undertake a review of collection rounds across the district next year.
‘Success story’
Cllr Keith Baldry, South Hams’ executive member for the environment, said: “We went from a situation where we were regularly failing under the previous regime to collect people’s waste and recycling. We’ve now reached a situation where it is extremely rare for us to fail.
“That happened from day one of taking the service back in-house. It has been a successful transfer. That is due to the tremendous hard work of the team. It is a success story of which the team should be enormously proud.
“We’ve achieved that, but there’s a long way to go. Our teams are continuing the hard work to improve the consistency and efficiency of the service, but these aren’t easy fixes. They take time. After these first steps though, I am positive that with the team we have, both on the ground and behind the scenes, we will get there.”
South Hams
Representing an estimated population of nearly 90,000, South Hams district council had a household waste recycling rate of 54.7% in the 2020/21 financial year.
South Hams collects residual waste fortnightly from all residents. More than 22,000 households across the district receive a weekly “full” recycling service which sees food waste collected in silver caddies, 14,500 households receive a weekly commingled service, and 8,000 households have their recycling collected fortnightly in blue and clear sacks.
South Hams sends residents’ recyclables to a variety of firms including: BCMY Ltd, Biffa, the Bristol Waste Company, Coastal Recycling, Eco-Bat, Newberry Recycling, Palm Paper, Perrys Recycling, Recresco and Suez.
The contents of the food caddies is delivered to Andigestion’s anaerobic digestion facility in Holsworthy.
Residual waste goes to MVV’s energy from waste and combined heat and power facility in Plymouth.
Improvements
A report on the progress of the in-house switch went before the council’s executive on 1 December, noting aspects of the waste service other than collections had also seen improvements.
It’s nice to open up the computer and not get a load of complaints from residents
- Cllr Bernard Taylor, South Hams district council vice chairman
Fly-tips are being cleared more quickly since the transfer, South Hams says, while the council has maintained the public toilet cleaning schedule and “begun the processes” of deploying street sweepers.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Bernard Taylor, South Hams’s vice chairman, said: “I’d like to congratulate the team on what they’ve done. It’s nice to open up the computer and not get a load of complaints from residents.
“Talking to the drivers when they come around, they’re delighted because they’re being listened to. They’re happy doing what they do.”
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