Recycled rubbish brings city �1m

Plastic has nearly doubled in value in the last five years

For the first time a Devon city has topped �1m in earnings from selling householders' rubbish.

Exeter made �1.1m over the past year from recycling paper, plastic, metals and glass, some of which have more than trebled in value.

The figure is still only about half the costs of recycling, including sorting and transportation.

The council says breaking even will be a "struggle", but it is fast closing the financial gap.

Bin fines

The city council says recycling is starting to make financial sense as landfill costs and the value of waste are rising.

In the last five years the value of waste paper has risen from �45 a tonne to �85 a tonne, plastic from �200 to �350 a tonne, cardboard from nothing to �60 a tonne, steel cans from �40 to �170 and clear glass from �25 to �33.

The only material that has gone down in value is green glass because of a glut in the UK.

Exeter now recycles about 35% of its household waste, up from about 17% a year ago.

A �10 fine for householders who put non-recyclable waste into recycling bins was introduced at the start of September.

Against the money coming in from waste, the council spends �1.4m running its separation plant for recyclables.

It also has to fork out for transporting the waste to recycling plants.

Mike Trim, head of cleansing, said: "We will always struggle to break even, but we are closing the gap in the balance sheet to make it as near to break even as possible.

"We could easily hit 40% recycling if everyone helped. For instance, only 33% of the available plastic is recycled."

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