Recycling firm unveils the lorries that are ready for action
TOR2, the firm in charge of collecting refuse and recycling in Torbay, has unveiled its fleet of new lorries.
The 20 dark green multi-compartment trucks will be used from next week to pick up plastic, metal, tins, glass, textiles, paper and cardboard from all residents in The Bay.
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Bosses at the company, which will employ 84 staff, said it was a learning curve for both Tor2 and residents, and confirmed the call centre of "waste doctors" has been swamped with 1,000 calls a day.
Steve Bryant, Tor2's operational manager, said: "We ask people to be patient with us. It is a new system.
"We'll be learning as much as the community will.
"We need service users to get on board with us and provide us with constructive feedback so we can improve our service."
From next Monday residents in the three towns will have to sort out their rubbish and recyclables into the various boxes, food waste bins, seagull-proof sacks and wheeled bins.
The two-man lorries, which can carry some four tonnes of rubbish, will do 600 homes each a day.
Mr Bryant said: "It is a lot more work but the crews will get used to it. They will have to work it out.
"I expect the first weeks to be very busy as many people will have stockpiled their newspapers, bottles and cans."
Mr Bryant said many of the answers to customers' questions were contained in the leaflets residents had received through their letter box, but insisted Tor2 specialists were happy to visit anyone with technical queries.
He said: "I know we all make mistakes, but if residents put the wrong rubbish in the wrong bins we will not pick it up.
"It will be left behind. It is a learning process for everyone."
Under the new system food waste will be collected and put in anaerobic digestion processors in Holsworthy and later next year at Langage.
It will help produce methane gas and energy as well as natural fertiliser.
While many people have complained about the new system as being impractical or cumbersome, others said May Gurney, the main partner in the Tor2 company, should recycle even more.
One Preston resident, who declined to be named, said: "It will be a step backward if they can't take plastic bottle caps, food trays and other things which are recyclable but can't be because May Gurney doesn't have the facilities.
"The capacity to recycle should have been paramount when May Gurney was given the contract.
"They should make sure more is recycled in the future or people won't bother, and everything will end in landfill which is a step backward."
Mr Bryant admitted not everything could be recycled at present but hoped that it would in the future.
Torbay's recycling rate is expected to rise to 40 per cent by next year and save the authority and residents some £1million a year.
Tor2's team of waste doctors are available for home visits during the month to help with further queries.
If you require such a visit, telephone the Tor2 call centre on 01803 207900.
32 Comments
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by Mike Busy, Torquay
Monday, September 06 2010, 11:10PM
“What a fiasco! Who is responsible for this well meaning but ill conceived load of rubbish
I have done everthing asked of me. My reward......
One completely full grey bin that will have to wait for an extra week and one day to be emptied.
One wet pair of jeans and slippers because in my haste I forgot that after todays down pour the box would be full of water.(The irony is I had just wasted water at the sink rinsing out a baked bean can).
My investment in an energy saving dishwasher proving a total waste of time if I am rinsing my rubbish before I put it in my bin.
I want to recycle and I think a green bin on wheels with a lid might be a good idea! Does anyone know where I can get one?
Question.....What happens if I put all my rubbish in the faithful old grey bin? Will they send MI5 around and fine me.
Seriously.... I have had it.”
by yorkshire lass, babbacombe
Monday, September 06 2010, 6:57PM
“Well weve had our bins emptied this morning and OMG puring with rain and 2 men emptying all bins and sorting by hand and what was behind the jolly green giant lorrie??? about a mile of traffic including a bus all waiting its gonna add another 15 mins on journey time, babbacombe rd bad enough with traffic but with the recycling lorrie its a complete stand still, never seen owt like it in me life. Back in yorkshire we had 1 black bin and one green where ANYTHING recyclable could go in and a black box just for glass, All i can say is if the council want to attract more visitors to torbay there going wrong way about it, not very nice looking at gardens filled up with plastic boxes and these damned seagull bags, oh well .”
by Kevin, Paignton
Sunday, September 05 2010, 7:09AM
“Surely it would have been more economical to invest in a conveyor belt and employ 84 new staff to sort the recyclables as they went through? that way everyone keeps dry, its all sorted into the correct places, and we don't have to change what seemed to be a good system with the two bins!!! There would be no extra lorries blocking our already over congested roads and the seaguls would be well restricted!”
by tor2, paigton
Friday, September 03 2010, 1:07PM
“Do i get up very early and wait for the bin men if it is raining so my recycling is dry”
by Barrie Peel, Torquay
Friday, September 03 2010, 10:55AM
“So the 20 new lorries will pick up plastic! Yet Tor2 cannot recycle plastic food trays - which must equal the quantity of bottles. , where will the trays go? Into land fill of course. A retrograde step. Come on Torbay Council wake up and smell the coffee!! Why go into parnership with a novice company? Tell me when is the next election?”
by Geoff, Torquay
Friday, September 03 2010, 10:16AM
“Dear Penelope, Torquay
I often used to take neighbours excess rubbish bags and put them in my bin to stop the seagulls and the odd teenager from booting it around the street. Now if a green bin was invariably not large enough to take two weeks worth of rubbish how are three little boxes going to cope?
I think the biggest problem by far is the fact that the 'waste doctors' seem to come in from no where dictate that there will be changes to the collection system. Have there been any trials? Torbay is not a city with wide roads, good access, we probably have a higher than average number of older people living in the area. The crafty way we get drafted in to becoming a 'volunteer' for TOR2 which will mean bigger profits for them without the need to invest in automated machinery to sort and separate the recyclable materials.
One lorry, manned by two guys, hand placing items into individual hoppers can visit 600 homes in a day. I think someone is being over optimistic.”
by TorbayUnite, Torbay
Friday, September 03 2010, 10:12AM
“TOR2 are you fit for purpose? come to think of it are you real, or just a bad nightmare.”
by Peter, Paignton
Friday, September 03 2010, 10:08AM
“The other thing that I object to is that if the wrong items are in the bins they will not take it.
We have to put these bins out in the street at 6.30am. Are we supposed to stand guard over them to ensure that no-one else puts anything in them?”
by Peter, Paignton
Friday, September 03 2010, 9:16AM
“Well we had a nice "old" green bin delivered to us complete with a "starter pack" of someones elses rubbish in the bottom! They could have cleaned it before they delivered it.
So this is a 2 man lorry presumably 1 will drive. This leaves 1 man to pick up the bins and sort them into the lorry. So just how long will the lorry be blocking the road?”
by D i c k, Torquay
Thursday, September 02 2010, 10:22PM
“Where does the money come from to pay for these lorries...and they must have ordered them months ago.
Where does the money come from to pay for all the extra staff and boxes?? Thought they, Torbay Council, were about to cut back on the staff, infact they were going to call a strike not four months ago.
Who makes a profit from this, May Gurney definitely do not do something for nothing, they are all about making a profit.
Good job some woman on the Council is running this, this will add to her wage bill and add to her basic wage and us footing the bill. Joke.
I am about to move back to the Bay, I now think I am making a mistake.
This Council and May Gurney have made a right pigs ear of it all.
What are those big black bags I see on the road side? I thought they were waste not to collect waste in?
Where I live at the moment we have just gone through this, everyone is happy with it, two bins a box and a bag, given plenty of notice, through the press, door drop letters, for three weeks, bins delivered but not to used for three weeks, had a practice run of two weeks, none of this if you put it in the wrong box we will put it on your lawn or street attitude, just a nice bunch of people. What are we employing here, dictators.
What do they say about organising a booze up in a brewery. well I guess the Council could not do that either. What a shambolic lot they are.
What about the old days where did you keep the dustbin then, the heavy metal ones, things change.”