Scarborough Councillor Says Residents Want "No Extra Bins"

That's the message from the Councillor representing the Ramshill and Weaponess areas of Scarborough.

North Yorkshire Council are looking at adding extra recycling bins across the county, area by area, starting with Ryedale.

However councillor Rich Maw thinks less is more for people he's spoken to in Scarborough:

Speaking to North Yorkshire's local authority, Councillor Greg White said:

"Members, today you are being asked to adopt a waste collection policy which will involve most residents having two wheelie bins for recycling.  One will be for paper and cardboard, the other for all other recyclables including plastic cans and glass.  Each of these recycling bins will be emptied once in every four weeks and on the other two weeks residual non recycled refuse will continue to be collected as now. 

The plan is to introduce a new system in each of the former district council areas. Beginning with Ryedale over a two year period,  this will enable our waste team to learn from any issues that might arise during deployment.  It'll also ensure that we do not promissory retire any assets such as bin lorries, which would be both expensive and bad for the environment. 

The policy recognizes that whilst it will work for most, having two recycling wheelie bins will not be practical for every household. Alternative arrangements will be made for the estimated 10 percent of properties which need them.  For all other residents, there will be a choice of bin sizes available so they can best meet their needs. 

This system, which has been tried and tested in the former Selby district, is best for the environment, as it will enable more and better quality of recyclable waste to be collected.  It is also best for the Yorkshire Council taxpayers' pocket, as that better quality of recyclables will be bringing additional income. 

And that additional income will more than pay for the significant extra capital required for its introduction.  And it also complies with the government's recently published proposals for legislation on refuse collection.  Members, can I apologise if you're experiencing a bit of déjà vu.  We do seem to have been talking about  harmonising waste collection in some considerable detail  for an inordinate length of time. 

The proposal before you today was co created by our professional officers and an all party task and finish group, to whom I must give my heartfelt thanks.  It has also been subject to full public consultation in a somewhat bravely  called Let's Talk Rubbish.  And it's also been considered in several cases more than once by the executive, by the Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee, members' seminars and each of the area committees. 

Members we're now at the last fence. I believe this is a well considered and strong proposal, which has been developed and refined by officers and members of every colour and from every quarter."

Councillor Maw told the same meeting that he thinks less is more for people he's spoken to in Scarborough:

Councillor Michelle Donohue-Moncrieffe, who represents Hunmanby and Sherburn, agreed:

" I'll echo what he said. I have listened to all the arguments around this. I have listened to the public feedback from residents on the Yorkshire Coast and it is very clear that people do not want to go down this change. I have to say no matter how much times I've listened to the arguments, I am not convinced that this council will not find problems in some communities.

People get confused. I just wonder how much co-mingling we'll still end up with. But can I also just congratulate the council because on the 23rd of December, a report about the bin colours came out and it came up with a whole new concept I'd never known of, the non-conforming bin.

And in the world of woke, I am delighted to say that I am the owner of non conforming bins. And as long, and for anybody who non conforms, if bins can non conform, then everything can non conform, but I cannot support this policy."

Councillor Sam Cross, who represents Filey, added:

"Where do I start? Well, I'll start by agreeing with Councillor Maw and Councillor Donohue-Moncrieffe.  We have large blocks of flats.  Lots of them second homes and they only come for the weekend and they've got a choice of three bins or maybe four if they've got a brown bin as well and it is going to cause too many problems. We have lots of bins on the streets at present time they have small backyards and it will cause problems, there's no doubt about it, so I'm going to have to feel sorry for the second door homeowners because they're going to have the problem of sorting the bins out every week.

"Then we've got the audacity to charge them double council tax for not getting their bins emptied properly. We have a system that works currently, so why do we need to change it?"

Councillor Derek Bastiman had these thoughts on the bins on the Yorkshire Coast:

 "I rise to defend the collection on the coast. 

"As a former leader at Scarborough, if anybody had been at the forefront of receiving complaints, it would have been me.  And I'm extremely pleased how the way we rolled out the bin connection and the bag collection on the coast in its entirety.  Each property was looked at individually and assessed accordingly.

"There was never any arguments whether they wanted bags or bins. They were all equally received gratefully.  If the officer implementing this throughout the whole of North Yorkshire is Harry Briggs or someone equivalent to Harry Briggs who was at Scarborough, I can assure everybody in this room today, we're in very safe hands.

"Because you couldn't have a better officer than Harry Briggs".

Councillor White then concluded:

 "There's quite a lot of points made there. One was made several times by several speakers. So I want to deal with that one particularly, and that's about communication. During the implementation process and give this undertaking. Now we will be communicating with residents and we'll also be communicating with local members.

"The idea is to roll it out on a former district council basis. That doesn't exactly align with our area committees, but the idea would be that we would bring them to the area committees in advance of the rollout in that particular area and we could go over. the detail of how that was going to be done and take on board any suggestions and local knowledge is that.

"Otherwise that members are able to give us to make sure that it's a successful implementation in each of those areas. So I absolutely pick up the communication and consultation point made by several members. When it comes to electric bin lorries, we've looked at them and unfortunately there is not one available at the moment that would work in North Yorkshire as it is we will continue to look at them and when they are the right thing to do in terms of both environment and cost, then we will do them, but we can't do them at the moment."

Councillors voted in favour of the plan to update the bins for the area.