A CAMPAIGN to get Mid Devon recycling has been keeping Karen Abbott and her team busy this year.

The district’s overall recycling rate is just under 50% but organisers hope to break that barrier by the end of March.

The Star caught up with the group at Silverton Mill to find out how much work is involved in making Mid Devon green.

The group leaves the depot at 7am and Karen said every day is different.

She added: “During the course of the day I often speak to many residents about their recycling collection, dealing with any queries and advising them on what they can put in their black boxes.

“I always ask people to help us by separating the materials in the box, as this really speeds up the collection and helps to keep costs down. The most common question I am asked is why we don’t collect more plastics and we are currently looking at ways to find space on the vehicles and in the depot to enable us to collect a better range of plastics in the near future.

“The recycling depot is a busy place with our vehicles coming back to unload during the day.

"The recycling material we collect is stored at the depot, processed and then transported to the reprocessors to be recycled into new products.

“We are always looking at ways to encourage the public to recycle more and I am delighted that The Star newspaper is supporting this with their ‘Be a Recycling Star’ campaign.”