NEW contracts for refuse and recycling collections and the cleaning of streets and public toilets have been awarded by West Devon Borough Council and will begin on April 1, 2010.

At a recent meeting, councillors agreed to award all the contracts to Focsa Services (UK) Ltd.

The contracts, which together make one of the largest ever awarded by the council, will include increased recycling collections such as the kerbside collection of plastic bottles and extending the food and garden waste recycling service to all suitable households in the borough.

The contract will run for seven years from April. After an assessment of costs and taking into account residents' feedback, councillors decided residual waste would be collected in sacks and not wheeled bins.

The new refuse and recycling contract has been designed to meet current and future recycling targets, improve the environmental efficiency of waste collections, decrease the amount of waste going into landfill, and provide value for money for West Devon's tax payers.

Some of the benefits of the new refuse and recycling contract include:

l a separate weekly food waste collection for everyone, with the waste going to a local renewable energy plant

l increasing the number of materials that can be recycled in the kerbside boxes to include items such as plastic bottles and textiles

l extending the garden waste and bulky card recycling collections to all suitable households

l reducing the number of heavy vehicles collecting waste and ensuring that the new fleet vehicles are the most efficient in their class. This will reduce carbon dioxide emissions arising from providing the service.

With the ability to recycle a greater range of materials, recycling and food waste will become the main focus of the waste collection service and will be picked up from the kerbside every week from every household.

Waste which cannot be recycled or composted will reduce and will be collected every second week. Garden waste will be collected from households every other week.

West Devon currently recycles around 43% of household waste. This is expected to increase to 54% once the new system is fully operational.

On street cleaning, the council voted for a service option which will include additional staff and improved cleaning methods to target specific problems, many of which have been highlighted by residents during consultations.

Public toilet cleaning will improve, with increased staffing and an extra vehicle, allowing cleaning staff to be split between the north and south of the borough. Opening hours of public toilets will also be extended.

The contract awards are the culmination of two years' work by councillors and staff which has taken into account the views of residents through a series of public consultation events held last summer.