IN response to the letter in last weeks paper (June 6) in which the borough's kerbside recycling scheme came under scrutiny I hope that the following will show the scheme is in no way 'a joke'.

The recently introduced green box recycling scheme offers everyone in the borough a chance to recycle.

By sorting materials at the kerbside 100% of materials going into the vehicle can be recycled — by hand sorting recyclables straight from the green box we can cut out contamination and therefore ensure that the best possible prices are obtained for materials in the marketplace.

Recyclables previously collected from households via the bag system suffered from high contamination rates, which could lead to our material outlets cutting prices or worse still rejecting our recyclables.

West Devon is striving to divert household waste from costly landfill sites and to meet tough government targets for recycling. The national Government target currently asks that West Devon recycle 36% of their household waste by the year 2005.

To achieve this target we will need to increase the amount of recycling carried out at the kerbside; the amount of materials taken to static recycling banks and the amount of materials delivered to Devon County Council operated civic amenity sites.

We would therefore ask for the continued participation from West Devon's residents in recycling household waste. We've seen a really positive start to the kerbside recycling scheme and with your help more and more recyclable waste can be reprocessed rather than landfilled. With a little effort we can all help to improve our local and global environment.

If you have any questions about the recycling scheme or have experienced any individual difficulty in participating in the scheme please call us on 01822 813656 and we will do our very best to help.

Helen Dobby

Contracts Manager

West Devon Borough Council