THE town and borough councils are reviewing what more can be done to make large town events more sustainable and environmentally responsible — after more than seven tonnes of rubbish was collected following last week’s Tavistock Goose Fair.

A huge clean up operation was carried out by West Devon Borough Council’s contractor FCC Environment overnight on Thursday, assisted by council staff.

The clean-up team worked for four hours to make the streets spotless after the town’s busiest day of the year.

The team finished the task with more than seven tonnes of waste, around 1.5-tonnes of which was recycled.

A lot of rubbish was left strewn in the street, but the borough council said an extra 22 bins were provided to cope with the extra demand, which were emptied continuously throughout the day, so the discarded waste was not because the bins were full.

A spokesperson for the borough council said that seven tonnes was a similar amount to what was collected most years from the event.

They said the 1.5- tonnes that was recycled was mostly card from food cartons and packaging and although the council intended to be able to recycle more in the future from kerbside, Goose Fair was more difficult as most of the rubbish was picked up en masse and dirty from the ground, unable to be recycled.

Instead of large trade bins this year, the council asked traders to sort rubbish at their stalls, which the contractors collected later in the day.

Among the extra bins provided this year were recycling bins so items could be recycled at source on the day.

However, items were sometimes thrown in together and contaminated rubbish could not be recycled.

Since the declaration of a climate emergency from both the borough council and Tavistock Town Council in the last six months, the authorities have been looking at ways to reduce the amount of waste produced and make the event more environmentally responsible for future years.

This year, before the event, Tavistock Town Council sent letters to traders highlighting the council’s environmental standards and asked traders to undertake an audit of their business specific to single use plastics and packaging; consider what they could easily stop using and providing to customers; whether there were financially viable sustainable alternatives to certain essential products and to review how they dealt with waste management regarding the principles of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’.

The town council said that for 2020 the council would review the event as a whole regarding sustainaibility and environmental factors which might lead to a more robust approach in future around reducing carbon emissions and waste.

General manager for the town council Wayne Southall said: ‘The town council has, for some time, recognised the importance of improving local resilience and promoting environmentally sound practices and is currently reviewing what more it can do to support sustainable and environmentally responsible measures and is working with the town hall and event manager specifically with regards to Goose Fair.’

He said that the council would review the event early next year in terms of sustainability, practicalities, cost implications and best practice.

Mayor of Tavistock Cllr Anne Johnson said: ‘Goose Fair this year went well and was enjoyed by many despite the wet weather. As always the clean up in the early hours of the next day was well done by our delivery partners — West Devon Borough Council and FCC Environment.

‘Goose Fair draws in many thousands of people and inevitably generates significant waste.

‘This is an area the council’s Sustainability and Environment Working Group will be looking at, with the waste collection authority, to identify best practice for Goose Fair specifically and as part of a broader initiative to promote sustainable and environmental action across all areas.’

The clean up team was thanked for its hard work after Goose Fair.

Cllr Caroline Mott, WDBC’s lead member for environment, said: ‘The FCC team do such an important job of the overnight clear up without much recognition.

‘It’s not much fun to come out in the early hours of the morning to be faced with such a huge clear up.

‘However, they recognise what an incredibly important job it is, added the councillor.

‘Thank you to the fairgoers and stall holders who played a part by disposing their waste in designated areas and using the reverse vending machine to recycle their plastic drinking bottles, while raising money for the West Devon and Tavistock mayors’ charities.’