5 members of the group recently made a trip to Punchbowl Recycling Centre near Crediton to find out more about how the centre operates. We were given a comprehensive tour by Dominic Treacher of Devon Waste Management who are paid by Devon County Council to run all the recycling centres in Devon and who then subcontract the day to day work at Punchbowl to Sandy and her team who you see at the centre. 

We were impressed by the range of waste which can be recycled. It includes TV's and all electrical equipment which are reprocessed in S. Wales and 98% of their content is reused. We were reminded that all unwanted white goods can be recycled at the Centre and that used engine oil taken there goes for burning in incinerators and used cooking oil is turned into bio-fuel locally. Household and garden chemicals can be taken there for disposal. All wood and wood related products collected are sorted and recycled in various streams depending on their content. Even plasterboard is recycled into fertiliser! Paper they can accept includes brown bags,Yellow Pages and envelopes and all clothing taken there is sorted for resale wherever possible. All told over 75% of the waste that arrives at the centre is recycled which is above the average for Devon recycling centres.

Sandy, the manager, explained that only 3 or 4 cars can unload at any one time in the marked bay. This is for safety reasons as, under the previous arrangements, someone who was unloading and not watching where they were going was hit by a car. She asks that patrons be patient awaiting a slot in the unloading bay. She suggests that wherever possible you make your visit there during the week as Sat and Sun are by far the busiest days. Certainly when we visited on a Friday morning most cars drove in and unloaded straight away with no waiting.

We will be keeping up a dialogue with the Centre from now on so if there is anything you wish to know or suggest about the operation of Punchbowl please let us know.