The council is launching the scheme – which includes new garden waste collection service – to help meet its Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme targets.
” We have already seen a massive surge in demand for kerbside recycling bags and boxes, which can only be good news.“
– Kirsty Walton, City of York council
The scheme, which is set to begin next month for 60,000 households, will see a fortnightly cycle with residual waste collected one week in grey wheeled bins and green waste collected on the alternate week in green wheeled bins.
Over 80% of properties in York also have access to a kerbside recycling scheme with a green box for cans and glass as well as a blue bag for paper. These are collected fortnightly.
Under the new system, residual collections will return to a weekly frequency over Christmas and the New Year, with green waste collections also ceasing December to February.
Opposition
Local newspapers have been campaigning against the new collection scheme, including the Evening Press, which has launched a “Bin it!” campaign including a petition calling for weekly residual waste collections. The paper has been warning of “overflowing bins, health problems, vermin, and smelly streets” and has recruited local MPs to denounce the scheme.
It is thought that around 100 councils across the country have already implemented alternate weekly collection schemes. A handful of authorities have scrapped such schemes because of local opposition, including Southampton city council (see letsrecycle.com story).
City of York council has said its scheme is a response to its government-set landfill diversion targets – the unitary authority believes it would have to pay fines of 7 million annually within five years if it fails. This could add 89 to the average council Tax Bill, it said.
The council's head of waste strategy, Kristy Walton, said: “When the garden waste collections begin next month, we will be listening intently to feedback received from members of the public and ironing out any teething problems so that by the time we re-introduce the scheme in March it is as customer-friendly as possible.
“We have already seen a massive surge in demand for kerbside recycling bags and boxes, which can only be good news as it shows that the introduction of the garden waste collections is already having an impact on the amount of waste that is being diverted from landfill sites,” Ms Walton added.
Plastics
If the alternate weekly collection scheme proves successful in its first few months, the council has promised to launch kerbside plastic collections, which it said “could be introduced as soon as March, 2006”.
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Ms Walton said: “We know from feedback that we have received from local residents that this is an issue for many people, who are keen to recycle plastics. In the meantime, the number of plastic collection banks is being increased at superstores in the city and it is hoped that residents will drop off their empty plastic bottles when they shop for new ones each week.”
Recycling rates have almost doubled over the last two years in York, from 12% in 2003 to about 24% currently. Under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, the council has permits to landfill 67,289 tonnes of biodegradable waste this year, but by 2010/11 it has permits to landfill only 39,352 tonnes of material.
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