MDDC waste and recycling depot Carlu Close Tour, Alan Quick
Mid Devon District Council’s waste and recycling depot at 3 Carlu Close.
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00:00Welcome to Free Kalu Close, Mid Devon District Council's Waste and Recycling Depot.
00:05Our Waste and Recycling crews travel around 450,000 miles in a year, carrying out more than 4,500 rounds.
00:13On site, we store, sort, prepare and distribute waste collected in Mid Devon.
00:18This includes food and garden waste, recycling and non-recyclable waste.
00:23Each year we collect around 28,000 tonnes of waste, which is 16 times the weight of the London Eye.
00:30So, what happens to food and garden waste?
00:34Food and garden waste are stored separately on site for a short period of time, before being sent away to be processed.
00:40As food and garden waste emit methane, it is important to keep the waste moving to stop gases from combusting and starting a fire.
00:47During the heights of spring and summer, so much food and garden waste is collected that the storage is emptied and sent to be processed daily.
00:55Food waste is processed in an anaerobic digester in Somerset.
00:58This converts the by-products of the waste, heat and methane, into energy, a sustainable process.
01:05Garden waste is sent to Torrington to be composted.
01:09So, what happens to recycling?
01:13Recycling is pre-sorted curbside, saving time and ultimately money.
01:18However, that doesn't mean recycling isn't sorted on site.
01:22Recycling is sorted on a conveyor belt, both by hand and by machine, to ensure everything goes in the right place.
01:29Once it has gone through this process, every material gets baled separately and sent to waste processors, all of which are based in the UK.
01:38You can find more in-depth detail of what happens to each recycler material on our website at www.middevan.gov.uk forward slash what happens to your recycling.
01:51So, what happens to your non-recyclable waste?
01:56Non-recyclable waste is only stored on site until it is sent to Exeter, or sometimes Plymouth.
02:01No residual waste goes to landfill, with everything that can't be recycled used to generate heat via an energy from waste plant.
02:08The energy produced is then put back into the grid.
02:15How much of our waste and recycling process did you know?