Look out for your new 2015/16 York waste and recycling calendar

City of York Council is encouraging residents to look out for their new waste and recycling calendar for 2015/16, which will be hitting doormats soon.

New calendar out soon

New calendar out soon

From this week households across the city will start to receive their new calendar which outlines when collections are taking place between November 2015 and October 2016, including collections over the Christmas and New Year period.

The council announced earlier this year that residents are set to benefit from two additional garden waste collections this autumn, at the end of the current collection season, as well as improved recycling collections over Christmas.

This will ensure that the maximum time residents will wait for their recycling collection is three weeks, instead of four weeks. The extra garden waste collections will give residents an opportunity to dispose of autumn green waste before winter sets in.

The new calendars also provide tips and advice on what items can and can’t be recycled including paper/cardboard, glass, plastic bottles, cans/tins and if applicable garden waste.

Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for Environmental Services, said: “We are pleased to be improving recycling collections for residents over Christmas as they have asked us to help them to recycle more of their waste. By working together we can reduce the cost to the council of Landfill Tax and to help us become the Greenest City in the North.  We encourage residents to look out for their new collection calendars which will be hitting doormats soon and to let us know if they have not been received by the end of October.”

Flats, rural properties and also city centre properties serviced by St Nicks recycling team will receive collection information in December. For any queries about the St Nicks recycling service in the city centre please go to http://www.stnicks.org.uk/ or telephone 01904 411821.

Residents are asked to ensure their bins or boxes are presented by 7am on the day of their collection, but no earlier than 7pm the evening before.

Residents can find their additional collection dates on the new calendar and also online.

Look up collections at www.york.gov.uk/refuselookup . Households which have not received their calendar by the end of October can contact the council on 01904 551551 ycc@york.gov.uk for a replacement copy.

Find out more about waste and recycling in York by following @CYCWaste on Twitter or ‘like’ CYCWaste on Facebook.

Recycling rates down in York. Council discusses waste management crisis

Perhaps not before time, the York Council will discuss tonight how to reverse the trend towards lower waste recycling rates in the City.

The proportion of waste recycled dropped each year during the term of office of the last Labour Council. The only glimmer of hope was that the total amount of waste produced in the City has fallen by 15% from its 2006 peak. But that can mainly be put down to changes to the lifestyle habits of the local population.

York is still paying out over £4 million in Landfill Tax each year – money which would be much better spent on sustaining local public services.

The momentum built up over nearly a decade waslost in 2011 when the new Labour Council Leadership scrapped plans to provide a salvage and reuse centre at Harewood Whin. They would later close the Beckfield Lane recycling centre,  introduce charges for second green bin emptying and restrictions on access to the remaining civic amenity recycling centres.

Even those who do use the Hazel Court recycling centre will wonder whether everything possible is being done to maximise the reuse of items. Most electrical goods, for example, are currently dumped into a skip (from a height).

No monthly stats on recycling performance are routinely provided. The table below was obtained using Freedom of Information legislation.

One option would be to revive the idea of reusing and salvaging materials. An investment by the – part City of York Council owned – Yorwaste company in such a facility would send a clear signal that the City is serious about regaining the momentum in its battle to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

Recycling rates

Increase in fly tipping in York £68,652 cost

Instances of fly tipping in York have increased in each of the last 3 years.

Over £68,000 was spent last year cleaning up the mess. However only one perpetrator was prosecuted.

Part of the issue can be traced back to the closure of the Beckfield Lane amenity site.

There have also been problems with some waste collection rounds while the charges for the removal of bulky waste have rocketed.

 

Fly tipping

Plans to boost Winter Recycling Collections 

Plans to empty Green Bins on two additional occasions this winter will be considered on 10th August.

Green waste refusebin

An officer report outlines options to either

  • have two additional green waste collections in November or
  • one additional collection in November with one additional collection in January.

Last year the then Labour led Council was heavily criticised for ending green bin emptying at the end of October. Only a by election win for the Liberal Democrats in the Westfield ward prompted the newly balanced Council to add in an additional collection in January.

The published report fails to indicate how much green waste was collected during this January collection which was also intended to pick up discarded Christmas trees.

Nor is any weekly collection volume data is included.

The same meeting will confirm bin emptying arrangements for the Christmas period. The paper  includes plans to improve recycling collections by reducing from four weeks to three weeks the maximum time that people would need to wait between collections.

Roughly half the city missed one recycling collection during the Christmas period last year and so had to wait 4 weeks between collections.   

The Council have yet to publish details of any pre decision all party discussion meeting. In the absence of such a meeting residents will be able to make representations at the meeting on 10th and also to make written representations.

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Whatever happened to York’s salvage and re-use centre?

Well we know that it was one of the first cuts that Labour made when they took office in 2011.

Whatever happened to the salvage and re-use centre

The project was to have replaced the Beckfield Lane recycling centre but would have offered much more.

Its priority would have been to encourage the re-use of unwanted items. Currently only informal on-line groups like Freecycle address this need.

Only when the re-use option was exhausted would materials have been salvaged. For example, there is a ready market for building materials such as timber, bricks and hard-core.

Not only was the Beckfield Lane site closed but the replacement – which would probably have been located at Harewood Whin – was also scrapped.

In part the decision contributed to the decline in recycling rates in the City and an inexorable rise in Landfill Tax costs.

The £2 million salvage centre would have paid for itself by now.

Sadly many residents resort to dumping items. One armchair has found its way onto a verge on Gale Lane today. Although some of these items are picked up by “rag and bone” men, many have to be removed by the Council.

Dumped mattresses are a particular problem for those lacking transport to get to the remaining 2 civic tips.

The York Council now charges £40 to remove up to 10 bulky waste items

Small wonder that so many residents are petitioning their objections to reduced waste collection frequencies and the prospect of a £35/£37 pa charge for emptying green garden waste bins.

Green waste bin emptying

The Council is set to stick with its decision to end green bin emptying in October each year.

The service now starts again in April.

Green bin 2

A Council report claims that most residents either store up their green waste in winter or take it to one of York’s two civic amenity recycling centres.

The report does not say how much waste was collected in the additional collection arranged in January of this year.

The Council accepts though that some garden waste found its way into grey bins, adding to the Landfill Tax burden that must be funded by Council Taxpayers.

“Save our bins” petition launched

Residents have launched a petition calling on the York Council to reverse its proposal to reduce refuse bin collection frequencies and scrap the £35 green bin emptying charge.

click to download

click to download

The petition also asks the Council to abandon its plan – agreed at its budget meeting on 26th February – to introduce a £35 a year charge for emptying green bins. The charge has been heavily criticised as a new “stealth” tax – the equivalent of a 4% increase in Council Tax levels for most residents.

The Labour run authority introduced a £35 fee for emptying second, and subsequent, green bins last year.

The new tax will apply to all green bins and will hit the least well off hardest (as the charge will not be offset by increased benefit payments).

Residents fear that the charge will lead to more hedgerow dumping.

The risk will be increased by the move to 3 or 4 weekly grey bin emptying.

Dumping has already become an increasing problem on the west of the City since Labour’s controversial decision to close the civic amenity recycling centre on Beckfield Lane a couple of years ago.

Former Council Leader Steve Galloway is backing the petition.

“Many public service cuts are being hidden from residents by dubbing them part of a “rewiring” exercise.

This title means nothing to most people.

A consultation in February was a shambles with leaflets advertising activities being delivered after the event had finished.  A bogus list of choices failed to specifically ask for resident’s views on bin charging and reduced emptying frequencies.

Residents need to make their views known now.

A new Council will be elected on May 7th. It will have an early opportunity  to reverse the damaging decisions that have been taken over recent weeks”

The petition also asks the Council to provide more litter bins and to give a higher priority to keeping highways and hedgerows free from litter and dumped items.

A copy of the petition can be down loaded by clicking here

The petition can be signed “on line” here

Additional garden waste collection reminder

City of York Council is reminding residents that an additional one off garden waste collection will take place this month between 19 and 30 January.

Green Bin

This will mean the council will be able to collect all the autumn waste and Christmas trees in green bins.

Please note that Christmas trees must be inside the bin, so please cut it up if necessary.

The green waste collection will take place on the same day as recyclables are scheduled to be collected.

Look up collections or download a 2015 rubbish and recycling calendar at www.york.gov.uk/refuselookup  or call 01904 551551.

During the winter months residents can take additional garden waste to Hazel Court and Towthorpe Household Waste Recycling Centres free of charge in a car. Residents using larger vehicles or trailers will need to apply for permits to use the sites.

Home composting is also a great way to manage waste at home and provide nutrient rich compost for gardens. Visit www.getcomposting.com for further information or to purchase a reduced price home compost bin to get started.

Ahead of the new collection season in 2015, households with more than one green wheeled bin can sign up to the additional green bin scheme which operates during the usual garden waste season.   

To join the scheme call 01904 551551 or ‘apply for it’ via our secure website at https://www.york.gov.uk/DoItOnline/

To find out more about the garden waste subscription scheme visit www.york.gov.uk/recycling

Follow @CYCWaste on Twitter, or like CYCWaste on Facebook.

No rubbish collections in York this week

We have had reports that some residents have not yet received their new rubbish collection calendars.

You can access a look up table which gives details of collection arrangements for your postcode by clicking here

There are no scheduled refuse collections this week. Many residents will take advantage of the recycling facilities dotted around the City. Some are already full to overflowing. We have asked for them to be emptied.

Skips are next due to visit west York on 3rd January 2015

Recycling bin at Tesco full on Sunday

Recycling bin at Tesco full on Sunday

 

Bin bag also dumped

Bin bag also dumped

Rubbish dumped on Sunday

Rubbish dumped on Sunday

Full litter bin on local footpath

Full litter bin on local footpath