New environmental requirements will mean that as of Sunday, December 1, Devon’s householders will only be able to dispose of their upholstered furniture at one of eight of Devon's specially designated Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).
This follows the introduction of new requirements from the Environment Agency, which require Devon recycling centres to have segregated facilities to handle Waste Upholstered Domestic Seating (WUDS).
These include sofas, sofa beds, armchairs, recliner chairs, upholstered kitchen and dining room chairs, upholstered garden furniture, stools and footstools, office chairs, futons, bean bags, floor and sofa cushions.
These items contain large quantities of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) or forever chemicals and other hazardous chemicals in the textiles and foam.
These chemicals are often used as fire retardants; they persist in the environment, can accumulate in human and wildlife fatty tissues and can be harmful to health and the environment. All WUDS need to be sent for incineration separately where these chemicals are destroyed.
Councils are now required by the Environment Agency to ensure that all WUDS are segregated and transported separately from other waste.
This segregation will require additional containers and facilities to be provided at HWRCs. However, due to space constraints, only a limited number of sites in Devon will be able to accept WUDS.
This means that the majority of the county's recycling centres will not have the facilities to accept these items.
The centres that will be able to accept Waste Upholstered Domestic Seating from Sunday, December 1 2024 are: –
East Devon; Knowle Hill in Exmouth
Exeter; Pinbrook Road, Exeter
Mid Devon; Ashley, Tiverton
North Devon, Seven Brethren, Barnstaple
Torridge; Bideford
South Hams; Ivybridge
West Devon: Okehampton
Teignbridge: Brunel Road, Newton Abbot
WUDS cannot be accepted at any other Devon HWRC after December 1 and residents will need to ensure that they take their WUDS to a site that can accept them.