News & Media > Environmental Services
19:07:2010
A new era dawns in Torbay
TOR2 is owned by May Gurney (80%) and Torbay Council (20%) and will deliver service improvements and value for money. The TOR2 brand is clear and prominent which will make it easy for residents to know who is delivering their local services and how to get in touch.
The services provided by TOR2 comprise:
• Waste and recycling collections
• Management of the Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) and Waste Transfer Stations
• Maintenance of Torbay’s highways, grounds, parks, car parks, buildings and the council's vehicle fleet
• Street and beach cleansing
• Out of hours call centre support
One of the first and most noticeable service improvements will be to Torbay’s recycling and waste services. These will start from 6 September and will include:
• The ability for Torbay residents to recycle up to 85% of their waste
• A weekly kerbside collection of recycling from all properties
• An increased range of recyclable materials collected at kerbside
• A new kitchen waste recycling collection
• New recycling containers to replace the large, green recycling wheelie bin and allow residents to separate their waste, leading to purer materials for re-processing
• Same day recycling and residual waste collections
• Improved recycling facilities for flats with shared recycling facilities.
Nick Bye, mayor of Torbay, said: “May Gurney has a proven track record in the delivery of front-line services in partnership with other local authorities.
“May Gurney’s considerable wealth of expertise will enable the new company to tackle the challenges that lie ahead with great confidence, and I wish TOR2 every success as it works to deliver quality services to the residents of Torbay.”
Andy Bond, development director of May Gurney Environmental Services, added: “In our experience, where this type of service is offered and especially where it is combined with alternate weekly refuse, there is a noticeable decrease in the total amount of food waste to be collected.
“Essentially we believe that this process makes households realise they are wasting a lot of food they have shopped and paid for and they moderate their behaviour as a result. We are currently researching this theory with Exeter University, but we estimate the reduction is around 1kg per household per week.
“WRAP states that we waste on average more than £400 per household of food per year. 1kg a week represents about a quarter of this, so the average household is saving themselves about £100 per year.
“Every tonne of food waste avoided in this way is also worth 4.5 tonnes of avoided CO2 emissions, making this one of the most significant contributions of any element of a waste management system.”
Click here to read more about TOR2.
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