SOUTH HAMS – CHANGES TO BINS, RECYCLING & COLLECTIONS

As of Monday 20 November, South Hams District Council is changing its recycling and waste service. All South Hams residents will move onto the same service, so everyone can recycle the same things, including food waste and glass. This includes everyone in Sherford that is a South Hams resident. There are no changes to your bin collections if you are a Plymouth City Council resident.

Your collection days for recycling and general bin waste (black bag or seagull sack) may have changed. You should receive a letter from 6th November explaining the changes and telling you if you have any changes to your collection days. Check your collection day here.

Everyone will need to use their recycling boxes, reusable white sack, and food waste caddy to put out their recycling on the kerbside from Monday 20th November. You will need to sort your recycling correctly into each container.

Here is what you can put in each container:

Recycling Box 1:

Mixed paper
Glass bottles and jars

Residents are asked to sort Box 1 with mixed paper at the bottom, and glass bottles and jars on the top. Residents are also asked not to put any broken glass in their recycling box. Any boxes with broken glass will not be emptied.

Recycling Box 2:

Cardboard and cartons
Printer cartridges and batteries (placed in a small bag)

All cardboard presented at kerbside must fit inside the box.

Reusable white sack:

Metal packaging – food tins, drink cans, etc.
Plastic packaging – milk bottles, trays, etc.

All packaging must be rinsed out. No black plastic.

Food waste caddy:

Food waste

Residents can use any type of bag to line their caddy. Residents can use their kitchen caddy under the sink, and then use the larger kerbside caddy to put their food waste out for collection.

Assisted collections:

These changes about how you should sort your waste still apply, but if you currently use the assisted collections service, this will continue.

Any issues:

South Hams District Council is grateful for your support to help make everything run as smoothly as possible. These are new rounds for the waste crews, and while the local authority has made every effort to prepare for the changes, there may still be some disruptions.

You can support the roll out a more effective service change by reporting a missed collection on the website. Reporting online allows the council to address missed collection data in real time and improve its service. This is also the best way to let them know about missed collections – letting them know via email will actually slow the process down.

You can report a missed collection online the day after your collection day. They will try to return to collect it within two working days of receiving the report. Visit the “Missed Collections” page if your collection has been missed.

Some residents may need to wait for their first waste or recycling collections for slightly longer than normal. If this applies to you, you can find out more here.

If you are a Plymouth City Council resident, these changes do not affect you, so please carry on as normal. You can find out more about bins, recycling and garden waste here.