Chance to bid for a share of £30,000 to help reduce waste in York

slothCommunity groups across York are being given the chance to bid for a share of £30,000 to support community projects that could help reduce waste.

The kinds of projects the fund will support includes:

  • Reducing waste from households e.g. reduce household waste going into the grey bin / helping to increase the amount of waste recycled
  • Promoting waste prevention e.g. encouraging reuse, repair and recycling of items / reducing food waste (in line with the Love Food Hate Waste campaign)
  • Reducing carbon emissions e.g. finding alternative options for composting garden waste for households with no collection / using lower carbon travel alternatives

Registered charities, not-for-profit organisations (including social enterprises), community or voluntary groups, schools, colleges or universities, residents associations and Parish Councils can all apply for funding. Projects can also include a partnership with a private sector organisation.

Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for the Environment, said: “This fund is a great opportunity to help communities and groups reduce waste and encourage re-use. By providing the funding to enable them to get their campaigns off the ground, this will really help us to create a more sustainable and resilient One Planet York, and make York the “Greenest City in the North”. We encourage as many groups as possible to apply for this funding before 20 January.”

Groups can apply for any amount of funding between £1 and £5,000 but if there are a large number of good applications then awards may be reduced proportionately.

The closing date for applications is 5pm Friday 20 January 2017.

To request an application form please email ycc@york.gov.uk with the subject ‘York Community Recycling Fund’.

To find out more information visit: www.york.gov.uk/recyclingfund, which includes examples of the types of schemes the council will fund, how to apply, the timescales for applying and further supporting information.

Council supports students to recycle up to £102k-worth of donations for charity

Recycling promoted by City of York Council, university students and The British Heart Foundation (BHF) could have raised up to £102,312 for the charity last academic year.recycling-community-9155

With council and university officers promoting recycling to students and by BHF providing recycling banks, 7,380 bags were donated between October 2015 to September 2016 to go towards funding the fight against heart disease

For the fourth year running, BHF shops have teamed up with University of York, York St John’s University and City of York Council to encourage students to have an end of year clear out and responsibly dispose of unwanted items by recycling them or by donating them to the charity.

The council donation drop-off points and BHF bins located in areas near where students live were well-used. The clothes, shoes, books, DVDs, bags and small electricals no longer needed are now being sold in BHF shops to help fund BHF research.
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Reuse and salvage – Questions about York approach

One of the most short sighted decisions of the York Council’s Labour administration between 2011 – 2015 was their decision to scrap plans for a “reuse and salvage” centre.

The facility could have been located at Harewood Whin and – as well as replacing the Beckfield Lane recycling facility which was closed in 2012 – would have provided 21st century salvage facilities for surplus items in the City.

Electrical equipment skip at Hazel Court.

Electrical equipment skip at Hazel Court.

More important, it would have introduced a more professional approach to the re-use of unwanted, but still serviceable, items.

That need is currently partly met by the internet based Freecycle and similar groups but large numbers of usable objects still find themselves in the land-fill stream.

Today, visitors to the Hazel Court amenity site witnesses a good example of the issue. One resident arrived with a set of perfectly serviceable wooden dining chairs. They would have  found  their way into the timber recycling skip had not another visitor offered them a new home. But that was down to luck not planning.

Recycling is more costly, and energy intensive, than simply reusing items…..even if some need repair or a coat of paint.

The Council still persists in asking residents to drop electrical goods into a steel container from a height of 3 metres jeopardising any opportunity to reuse the computers, printers, phones and other potentially valuable items which fill the skip each day.

The Council must take an independent look at the range of re-use services that are available in the city.

They then need to expand them and make sure that the options available are communicated regularly, and effectively, to local residents. 

Acomb car park recycling area blighted by flytipping

Although not as bad as on some occasions in the past, black sacks and other items have been fly tipped on the Acomb car park.

These have been reported to the Council using the fixmystreet website.(in the continuing absence of the much promised, but never delivered, new Council reporting app).

More fly tipping

More fly tipping

Fly tipping in Acomb car park

Fly tipping in Acomb car park

Full clothes bank

Full clothes bank

Full clothes bank

Full clothes bank

 

 

Terraced homes in Westfield may get wheeled bins

Hope that a new re-use centre will reduce landfill tax costs
Streets in the Westfield area being considered for wheeled bins click for full list

Streets in the Westfield area being considered for wheeled bins click for full list

A report being discussed by the Council later in the month suggests that an additional 5,564 properties across York may get wheeled bins to replace residual waste sacks. Wheeled bins are preferred by the Council as they are more secure (from vandals and rodents), are easier and safer to handle and reduce emptying time.

However, in the past assembling bins at a central collection point has been unpopular with some residents.

A complete list of streets which are likely to be considered for the introduction of wheeled bins can be found by clicking here

The report also reviews the decision of the last Labour Council not to establish a re-use facility in the City.  In 2011 the then Council leadership abandoned the re-use and salvage centre planned for a site at Harewood Whin. Together with the closure of the recycling centre on Beckfield Lane the decision was partly to blame for a subsequent increase in the volume of waste going to landfill.

The new Council are looking at the successful re-use centre in Leeds which generates a surplus for the Council by reusing furniture.

Re-use centre

Re-use centre

There is thought to be a similar opportunity in York where many re-usable electrical items are scrapped. The report says “Reuse remains a key opportunity when it comes to reducing the amount of rubbish that goes to landfill and the associated costs. Reusing an item, rather than throwing it away, can prolong its useful life, reduce the need for finite valuable resources and potentially create work opportunities in terms of repair and maintenance”.

Currently the City depends on a varied range of voluntary groups such as Freecycle York, Bike Rescue and the community furniture store to promote the reuse of serviceable goods.

Other proposals being considered include:

  • Improving recycling in flats
  • Collecting mixed plastics (not recommended at present for cost reasons)
  • Extending garden waste collections to properties currently not covered (those that have green waste)
  • Imposing more restrictions on the number of permits available for the use of Household Waste sites by people using vans
  • Rationalising the number of sub-urban recycling bin sites (more consultation is promised before any are removed)
  • Co-mingling of recycling (not recommended for cost reasons)
  • The type of new collection vehicles to be purchased (leased) for use in narrow streets.

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

2,762 sign “save our bins” petition

Massive opposition to green bin charges and reduced bin emptying frequencies

Council consultation leaflet click to access

Council consultation leaflet click to access

Over 2700 residents have signed the petition objecting to green bin emptying charges and a possible reduction in grey bin emptying frequency (to every 3 or 4 weeks).

The signatures were obtained in a “door to door” campaign conducted mainly on the west of the city.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

The petition can now be signed “on line” (click). Internet access to the petition was suspended during the election campaign.

The proposed changes to bin emptying arrangements were first promoted by Labour Councillors at the beginning of the year.

They authorised a – largely bogus – consultation exercise about options but failed to report the results of the opinion survey.

The bins petition will now be presented to the next ordinary Council meeting which is scheduled to take place on 16th July.

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.