Radical Rethink Suggested for North Yorkshire Bin Collections

Wednesday, 13 April 2022 16:25

By Stuart Minting, Local Democracy Reporter

Waste and recycling bosses have been urged to consider introducing European-style collection systems, such as creating central points where residents deposit their waste, as part of a radical overhaul.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s transport, economy and environment scrutiny committee was told that merging the district and borough and councils’ waste operations with those of the county council ahead of the unitary authority’s launch next year represented an opportunity to “work better in terms of waste minimisation”.

Councillors were told while a review of how waste should be collected in the county was under way, the government had inferred the separate kerbside food waste collections would become mandatory, meaning residents would have another bin outside their homes in future.

The meeting was told one of the most frequent issues raised to councillors was residents’ appealing for help to improve their recycling rates, while residents were also facing a growing volume of separate bins outside their properties.

The meeting heard there was clear scope for improvements in the waste collection system in the county.

The meeting also heard calls to revise planning policy for new-build estates to create a more effective bin collection scheme and trigger changes elsewhere.

The meeting was told many European waste collections were from a central skip buried underground with a post box-style top.

Councillors were told such schemes could benefit urban areas and where people live closely together, such as North Yorkshire’s coastal villages, but in rural areas there would be issues over where the skip was sited.

Officers commented while such a scheme would put an increased onus on residents to consider the waste they were producing, it would also be a “cultural shock”.

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