South Hams District Council has moved to reassure people that “none of the recycling that the council collects is sent to landfill”.

Responding to a letter to the editor from Mr Eric Stevens last week, who was worried that the recycling bags put out by households are all put into one recycling vehicle and therefore no longer separated, Helen Dobby, commercial services and localities at SHDC, shed light on the situation.

Helen said: “In response to the letter from your correspondent Mr Eric Stevens, published last week, I am writing to clarify the recycling procedures at South Hams District Council.

“As the crews collect your recycling bags, they are placed in the back of the collection vehicle with clear bags on one side and blue on the other. This helps to roughly sort them. The better the quality of our recycling, then the more we can sell it for.

“The bags are taken to our depot where they are separated by bag colour and stored until there are enough to take on to our recycling re-processors. Re-processors then sort the material into the individual material types.

“We endeavour to make sure that the sacks are kept separate on the lorry, but if inadvertently a load does become mixed, we have an additional quality check at the transfer station to ensure the waste is separated before onward haulage to the processors. "We ask residents to sort their recycling into sacks for collection to make this final checking process quicker, easier and safer for our recycling crews.“Your recycling is sent to various locations across the UK to be made into new materials or re-used. For more information on what happens to your recycling and waste please see the service guide, which can be found at https://www.southhams.gov.uk/article/4345/How-Our-Household-Collections-Work.

“None of the recycling that the council collects is sent to landfill.”