Final garden waste collections of 2017

The York Council is urging residents to make the most of the final round of garden waste collections, which start on Monday (20 November).

The next fortnight is the final chance for the 67,000 homes to fill their green bins with autumn leaves, cuttings and windfall fruit, with the service restarting on Easter Monday (April 2)

Anyone who misses that last collection can still take their waste to York’s two household waste recycling centres, which remain open every day except Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

New rubbish and recycling calendars have been delivered to every household in the city over the last two months. City centre properties with St Nick’s recycling collections will receive their calendars by the end of November.

The calendars also contain details of this year’s Christmas collection arrangements – there are no waste collections on the week of Christmas Day, but every household will get an extra rubbish collection either the week before or after Christmas.

If you’ve miss-placed your calendar, you can:

Neil Ferris, corporate director for economy and place, said: “This is a great opportunity to get the garden tidied in the run-up to Christmas. The Green Bins are very popular, making a big contribution to the 40,000 tonnes of waste we saved from going to landfill last year. I’d also like to remind people to that collection times are not the same every week, so please make sure that bins are out by 7am on your collection day.”

What goes in your garden waste:

Yes please

Leaves and bark
Grass cuttings and hedge clippings
Cut flowers and house plants
Garden plants and flowers
Windfall fruit
Twigs and small branches
Non invasive garden weeds
Pot plant compost
Straw bedding from small vegetarian pets, such as rabbits
Christmas trees and wreaths must be inside the bin, so please chop them up

No thanks

Soil and rubble, coal, BBQ charcoal
Nappies
Plastic, paper, cardboard and other packaging
General household rubbish
Food or other kitchen waste
Large whole branches
Invasive weeds such as Japanese knotweed, Giant Hogweed and Ragwort (seek advice on safe disposal from the Environment Agency)
Plant pots
Pet and animal waste from cats and dogs

York green bin charges generating £40,000 a year

Landfill

The York Council has revealed that it is receiving an additional £40,000 a year from the new charges introduced for emptying supplementary green (garden waste) bins.

Each household has been entitled to have only one green bin emptied free of charge since the beginning of April 2014.

When the Labour Cabinet decided to introduce the charges in April 2013, they were told that there were at least 5000 additional green waste bins in use in the City.

They hoped that, by charging £35 per bin per year, they would generate over £122,000 a year in increased revenue.

In reality only 1166 households have decided to pay for the extra bins.

It is unclear that is now happening to the green waste that was previously collected.

While some will be “home composted”, more is likely to be going into grey bins.

This will potentially generate more than £50,000 in landfill tax “penalties” making the charging scheme look unattractive to Council Taxpayers who will have to pick up the extra bill.

Garden waste collections restart

Charges for extra bins also introduced

“Look out for your new sticker” say Council

Garden Waste bin stickers

Garden Waste bin stickers

City of York Council’s garden waste collections will start again from next week, with fortnightly green bin collections through ‘till the end of October.

The Council says, “From Monday 31 March, all eligible households will continue to have one garden waste bin emptied free of charge. To enable crews to identify these easily all households have been sent a new garden waste sticker to place on the lid of their bin.

Residents will be given a period of time to ensure the sticker is placed on their bin because from 5 May those bins which are not displaying the sticker will not be emptied.

In addition to this, any households who would like to have more than one garden waste bin collected between April and October 2014 still have time to subscribe to the additional green bin scheme before the collection service starts up again at the end of this month.

These households will receive a separate and unique ‘garden waste scheme sticker’ as part of signing up.

Residents can join the scheme at any time, but those who subscribe before the start of April will benefit from around 16 collections during the 2014 collection period – which equates to less than £2.50 per collection (£35 per year)”.

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

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

Residents are also able to 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 site.

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

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

Bring back November green bin emptying say LibDems

Liberal Democrat Councillors will try to bring back the emptying of green waste bins during November at next weeks Council budget meeting.

Labour decided last year to scrap all collections between October and April as one of their economy cuts.

Green_waste_family_89__1

Many gardeners pointed out that November was often a month when a lot of green waste was generated.

Meanwhile Labour are now trying to sell extra green bins to residents with large gardens.

Despite the growing interest in food self sufficiency, the York Council now restricts free collections to just one bin per property.

Many gardeners are thought to have disposed of surplus green waste through their grey bins, partly accounting for the increase in the proportion of York’s rubbish going to landfill (and the financial penalties that result for taxpayers).

The Council statement reads.

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