Missed bin collections in York – backlog growing

The missed bins from yesterday and due for collection in Haxby, Huntington, Fulford and and Bishopthorpe today weren’t collected. This is put down to continuing staffing and vehicle reliability issues.

Skelton was also missed today

The Council says that it will try to empty all outstanding waste and garden bins tomorrow (Saturday)

It does increasingly seem that the bin emptying service, which was often regarded in public satisfaction surveys as the most appreciated local service provided by the Council, is now in decline.

Bin emptying arrangements failing in York.

Residents demand answers

Bin emptying arrangements have been plagued with problems over the last few days.

According to the Councils web site many bins in Fulford and Bishopthorpe weren’t emptied today. The Council blames staff sickness and vehicle problems for the poor service.

Missed bin collections Friday and Monday

Last week several neighbourhoods suffered delayed collections. These included parts of Strensall, Haxby, Wigginton, Acomb, Huntington and Heworth.

On Friday garden waste collections didn’t take place in Poppleton.

Residents were told to leave their bins out for emptying on Saturday but they were missed again.

Incredibly the Council has failed to issue a media statement explaining the delays, apologising and indicating when they expect to catch up with their collection schedule.

The responsible Executive member is aware of the problems

York to trial electric waste vehicle

City of York Council are set to trial a new state of the art, zero emission, electric refuse collection vehicle this week.

The vehicle is the first of its kind, using electric to both power the vehicle and compact waste, meaning there are zero emissions.

The three day trial will give the council time to see how the truck performs. The 27-tonne truck runs on lithium-ion batteries and is designed for urban environments with short routes and can complete a full ten hour shift on one charge.

Deputy leader of the council and executive member for the environment, Cllr Andrew Waller, said: “As a council we’re always looking at ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint and emissions to improve air quality. Electric vehicle technology has progressed at an extremely quick rate over the past years, allowing larger vehicles to travel longer in between charges.

“We’re keen to see expanding our electric vehicle fleet with electric waste vehicles is a way in which we can look to reduce our carbon footprint without affecting the serve residents receive.”

Russell Markstein, Electra’s Commercial Director commented: “The City of York is the conclusion of six months of trials of the Electra in both urban and rural locations. York is the perfect environment for the Electra to operate, with zero emissions and near silent operation, the residents and businesses in the City will visibly see the Council’s efforts in reducing its carbon footprint”

The trial has been offered to the council for free from Electra Commercial Vehicles.

Move to address declining refuse collection reliability in York

Council invests additional £125,000 in waste & recycling services

click to access CYC waste Facebook site

 

Following recent challenges to the Council’s Waste & Recycling Service, Councillors have agreed to spend £125K on improving the resilience of the service.

At a meeting of the Council Executive on Thursday (29th November 2018), it was agreed to use £125k from the waste reserve to recruit and train more staff ahead of the winter season.

Earlier this year a national shortage of HGV drivers, sickness and poor weather caused a number of issues for the Waste & Recycling Service.

In response, improving the service was made a priority; including rectifying missed collections and holding a successful recruitment day for staff in September.

A further report will be taken to an Executive Member decision session next month, recommending a new driver apprentice programme, in order to support the service in the long-term.  If approved, the Council will develop a driver apprentice programme within the waste team to train drivers as early as next year.

Councillor Andrew Waller, Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Environment, said:

“This year has been a challenging one for our Waste & Recycling Service, because, like many other areas in the country, we have felt the effects of a national shortage in HGV drivers.”

“Residents have, quite rightly, felt frustrated by missed collections and that is why we have been working hard to identify the best approach to supporting the service amidst these challenges.”

“Therefore, I am pleased that the Council Executive has agreed to invest a further £125K in the service, as this will allow us to immediately take steps in improving the resilience of the service, particularly before the busy Winter period.  This is a short-term measure and one of many we are looking at to support the service.” (more…)

New refuse collection timetables being delivered to homes

…. as Council struggles to fill bin lorry vacancies, new apprenticeship scheme announced

Residents should receive a personalised refuse collection timetable through their letterboxes during the next few days. It covers the next 12 months and explains when to expect collections over the busy Christmas period.

It makes no reference to the One Planet App which was discontinued last week following concerns about hacking. Consequently there is no readily available mobile link which provides up to date information for those on the move.

Green bin emptying has now stopped and will recommence in April

Unfortunately the leaflet, while explaining what can be recycled at the kerbside, fails to explain how to safely dispose of other items such as hard plastics.

Signage at the recycling centres such as Hazel Court is also in need of refreshing.

There is some information on the Councils web site click here

Meanwhile the Council is trying to fill some long term vacancies in its refuse management teams. In recent weeks there have been several occasions when recycling has not been collected. Details are usually posted on their Facebook page (click) each day.

The Council has issued a statement saying,

“Earlier this year, City of York Council made a number of changes to waste services to address some of the challenges it’s faced including a national shortage of HGV drivers, sickness and poor weather.

Whilst the pressures have been on prioritising household waste and box recycling services, as statutory services mandated by public health acts. The consequence of this is that garden waste collections have been the most affected.

In addition to training loaders as LGV/HGV drivers from within the waste services team, a successful recruitment day was also held in September, with an accelerated application process.

In addition this, the council is making further improvements in the coming months to its IT systems, so that drivers can be guided during the rounds, allowing them to flag issues but also accurately record uncompleted rounds. Staff will also be used as drivers and loaders so that if there is a shortage of either, the council can use existing staff to help.

There is also an opportunity to replace the council fleet over the next few years. The majority of the current vehicles are due to be paid for at the end of this financial year and work has started to specify the fleet.  New vehicles are expected to arrive in 2020.

More can be done though and on top of the above, a report will be taken an Executive Member decision session next month, recommending a new driver apprentice programme.

If approved, the council will develop a driver apprentice programme within the waste team to train drivers as early as next year. This would enable staff to be trained and as a result retained by the council”.

Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for Environmental Services, said: “I’d like to thank staff for working extra days to make up for missed collections. We’ve already made a lot of changes to the service but we know more can be done to improve the service’s reliability. So, it’s important that we learn from the challenges the service has faced and the decisions made, so that we can give our front-line crews the chance to provide the best service possible to our residents.”

The decision session meeting takes place on Monday 3 December from 5.30pm and is open to members of the public or is available to watch live online from: www.york.gov.uk/webcasts

Driver shortages blamed again as more bins not emptied by York Council.

The York Council has issued the following statement;

“Today crews have collected the vast majority of scheduled household, recycling and garden waste.

We have however been unable to collect green waste from some areas due to driver shortages. Areas affected are:

• Fulford South ( Fordlands Road area )
• Naburn
• Elvington

We will endeavour to recollect these bins on Saturday 11th August.

We have also been unable to collect household waste from some sections of the below streets because of blocked access by badly parked cars;

• ‘The Covert’ Hunters Way, off Tadcaster Road
• New Walk Terrace
• Lower Ebor Street

We hope to collect any outstanding waste from these streets tomorrow; therefore please leave your waste it in place and we will collect. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience”.

Latest on waste collection backlog in York

City of York Council Waste Services
2 hrs · 

Important service update from city of York Council

Today crews have collected all scheduled household, recycling and gardenwaste and also collected the remaining garden waste bins in Acaster Malbis.

Crews will be out on Saturday and Sunday to collect garden waste in Copmanthorpe and Tang Hall. If your bin has not been collected please leave it in place and we will collect it as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience.

We have not been able to collect all recycling from the Grain Store housing development on Water End because of road re-surfacing. If you are affected please put recycling out by 7am on Monday 16 July when the crew will return to finish collections.

We apologise to residents in terraced streets of the Groves and Clifton areas, that we were not able to re collect your waste before your next scheduled collection

15,000 tonnes of green waste collected by York Council last year

A new York Council report reveals that 12,649 tonnes of green (garden) waste was collected from households in the city last year. In addition 2,214 household waste sites generated a further 2.214 tonnes.

The cost of collecting the green waste was £515,000 while disposal cost £267,000.

The green waste is composted and made available free of charge for gardeners.

The Council says that if the green waste went to landfill it would cost taxpayers around £1.5 million. It would not be viable to burn the waste at the Allerton Park incinerator.

The amount of green waste collected for each York household is similar to that produced in the county as a whole. In York charges are only levied for additional bins.

Waste collections today – several streets in west York missed

The Council have issued the following statement

“We have been unable to complete refuse collections in some streets today due to a vehicle breakdown. Streets affected:

  • Barkston Avenue (part)
  • Walton Place
  • Brmham Avenue (part)
  • Marston Crescent/ Marston Avenue
  • Tithe Close (today due to telecoms work blocking access).

We will return to complete these streets on Wednesday. Please put your bin back out by 7am”