Local dignitaries gathered this week to mark the official opening of Ivybridge’s brand new recycling centre.

The £3.7million centre was opened on Wednesday by Devon County Council chairman Cllr Andrew Moulding and Ivybridge councillor Roger Croad, who is in charge of waste at the county council.

The purpose built facility has been constructed near the existing one, on the other side of the slip road off the A38 Westover junction. The budget includes a £750,000 section 106 contribution from the developers of the new town of Sherford.

The new centre has been designed to avoid many of the problems associated with the old one, and is much bigger. Queuing vehicles out onto the Ermington road, and delays while containers are loaded and unloaded should now be things of the past.

Speaking at Monday’s meeting of Ivybridge Town Council Cllr Croad said he was ’absolutely delighted’ the new centre had been built. He said he had been fighting for years to keep the necessary funds in the capital programme, in the face of huge cuts.

Cllr Croad noted the new centre was ten times the size of its predecessor, with no steps for users to negotiate. It was expected to handle more than 5,000 tonnes of waste a year, and Cllr Croad fully expected it to raise recycling rates from in the 60s to 85 per cent, saving the authority money, and reducing the quantity sent for incineration.

Speaking at the opening Cllr Moulding said: ’Today’s ceremony marks the end of the construction works and the start of recycling operations in this fantastic new recycling facility.

’This facility will serve householders over a wide area around Ivybridge, an area which is growing, and provides local people with a top quality facility.

’I hope this facility encourages more people in the area to recycle and combined with the new waste to energy plant in Devonport will mean that virtually no waste will be going to landfill.

’I know this facility will encourage recycling in the area and as a result I think recycling, recovery and re-use rates are going to boom.’

The new centre also boasts a resale area where bargain hunters will be able to pick up reusable items discarded by others.