A MOVE to trial three weekly rubbish collections in West Devon was given the go ahead by councillors this week.

Members of West Devon Borough Council’s hub committee approved the trial which will see residual waste collections (black sacks) collected every three weeks, instead of every two weeks as it is currently, for a cross section of 1,000 homes in the West Devon area from November.

The committee also unanimously agreed to improve the recycling service to take more materials at the kerbside, including plastic pots, tubs, trays, cardboard drink cartons, printer cartidges and foil, which will come into effect in October.

The results of the trial will help the council to decide whether to roll out the three-weekly collection across the borough.

If successful, it would aim to be implemented borough-wide from March/April 2021. The weekly collection of dry recyclables and food waste would remain the same.

In recent years the council has seen a gradual decline in its recycling rates and continues to face budgetary pressures. The three-weekly residual collections have been shown in other authorities to deliver savings and increase recycling rates.

At the meeting concerns were raised about the issue of ‘offensive waste’ building up over three weeks, such as nappies.

Cllr Jeff Moody said: ‘One of my concerns is the issues of nappies and incontinence pads etc. The average use of nappies could mount up to nearly 200 nappies stored up for three weeks — more than that if there is more than one child in the house. There are also concerns with flats, apartments and multi-occupancy houses of where to store the rubbish — what are the solutions?’

Jane Savage, commissioning manager for waste, said that the clinical waste collection was an underused capacity so could take some of the ‘offensive’ waste but residents would need to register for the service. She said houses chosen for the scheme would be given full information on how to reduce their waste and the trial would identify things that needed to be addressed before a full roll out, if adopted.

Cllr Debo Sellis said: ‘I do think this is an excellent opportunity for residents and future generations. Our planet is full of plastic and waste in general and by being a catalyst, we can promote this as an opportunity. We have a responsibility as elected members to support things like this and I think we have to be positive about it.’

Cllr Tony Leech said he supported the trial as he often saw houses in his ward with several bin bags and no recycling bins outside houses.

‘We have got to give good education in recycling alongside this. We cannot continue as we are,’ he said.

Cllr Caroline Mott said: ‘We have a duty to do something now to protect our planet. Residents have been asking for a long time to improve our waste and recycling service and to enable them to put more materials out for recycling. The trial of the three-weekly black bag collection is the next logical step.

‘Climate change and biodiversity loss are real threats to our world and we have to do our best to make a difference. Part of this is to make the best use of our planet’s resources by reducing, reusing and recycling what we use.’