York faced with missing recycling targets as rubbish costs rise

9:23am Monday 11th March 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Mark Stead, Political Reporter

YORK faces missing waste recycling targets and an extra £372,000 bill for getting rid of its rubbish.

Household recycling rates in the city and the amount of landfill tax City of York Council must pay for 2012/13 is expected to reach £2.97 million, 12.5 per cent more than the previous year.

York has also slipped down regional and national averages for dealing with household waste, and city leaders have been accused of steering recycling into “decline” by closing Beckfield Lane tip last year. The Labour-controlled council’s Liberal Democrat group said the situation will worsen if proposals to charge for garden waste collections and cut opening times at Towthorpe recycling centre go ahead.

A report which will go before the council’s community safety overview and scrutiny committee tomorrow said household recycling targets “look unlikely” to be hit. Levels are currently at 46 per cent, a slight year-on-year drop and short of a 47.6 per cent 2012/13 target.

Lib Dem councillor and committee member Keith Orrell said York’s waste performance was “very disturbing”, saying: “Under the Lib Dems, the recycling rate increased from 12 per cent to 45 per cent, mainly by making it easier for residents to recycle and constantly saying how important it is.

“Labour has reversed this by closing Beckfield Lane and is now threatening to charge for green bins and reduce Towthorpe recycling centre’s hours. It’s no surprise if residents now believe the council does not think recycling is important.

“If Labour don’t change their strategy, recycling rates will continue to stagnate and landfill taxes increase. Urgent action is needed to reverse this decline, and Labour should rule out charging for green bins, while more long-term work needs to be done on promotion and ensuring recycling is easier.”

Coun David Levene, cabinet member for environmental services, said York was one of the UK’s best waste and recycling performers and in the top quarter among councils. He said: “Latest figures show the council is working well towards achieving a 50 per cent target rate of recycling and is already recycling 46.28% of all household recyclable materials.

“Despite all authorities struggling with recycling rates because of the recession, ours are holding up well. We are targeting specific areas to gain that last three per cent needed to hit our target.”

He said no decision had been taken on proposed changes to waste services, but Government funding cuts meant “no easy decisions”.

Comments(40)

Podlet says...
10:03am Mon 11 Mar 13

"Hoisehold recycling rates" - so only the really posh houses, then?

Obviously the real reason that they are planning to charge the householder more to recycle green waste.

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tobefair says...
10:30am Mon 11 Mar 13

I remember a previous council sending me a "contract" stating how and when my rubbish would be collected and what I should recycle as my side of the agreement. This council appears to be re-writing the rules. Households might stop recycling if the council charges for removing green waste. This will increase even more the amount the council pays in landfill tax. Seems like a false economy to me.

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tobefair says...
10:41am Mon 11 Mar 13

See the Press report 27th April 2012 regarding the closure of Beckfield Lane tip. "The council said it would save £130,000.00 over two years by closing the site". They are now having to pay an extra £372,000.00 in landfill tax because they have missed the recycling target. The council should be doing all it can to encourage recycling. Not closing recycling centres and threatening to charge for removing green waste.

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bob the builder says...
10:43am Mon 11 Mar 13

.. what do they expect when every December they move the collection dates, send out the wrong timetables then take 3 weeks in some places to collect. You're going to get anticipate this and just put all your rubbish in a black bag and pile it up till they can be bothered to deal with it!

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prince naseem says...
10:44am Mon 11 Mar 13

tobefair wrote:
See the Press report 27th April 2012 regarding the closure of Beckfield Lane tip. "The council said it would save £130,000.00 over two years by closing the site". They are now having to pay an extra £372,000.00 in landfill tax because they have missed the recycling target. The council should be doing all it can to encourage recycling. Not closing recycling centres and threatening to charge for removing green waste.
they recycle naff all anyway, it all gets thrown together and then "oops we can't recycle it" a total joke this lot

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Mulgrave says...
10:53am Mon 11 Mar 13

Perhaps CoYC should ask for some advice on how to do it properly from their neighbours, East Riding of Yorkshire. Across three wheelie bins, virtually everything is taken including food waste, tetra packs, foil, yoghurt pots and food packaging. No charges for collection and Council Tax frozen for the third year.

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roskoboskovic says...
11:09am Mon 11 Mar 13

what a total con.they bring in fortnightly collections,stacks of unsightly recycling boxes and have to buy special big wagons for the recycling nonsense.if truth be told most of the stuff isn t recycled but just dumped as before.we have been lied to on a huge scale on top of which successive councils have been grossly incompetent

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Happy Chappie says...
11:13am Mon 11 Mar 13

The system used I the East Riding is absolutely brilliant, makes you feel that you want to help them. As for York council if any of them where in business on their own would not last 5 minutes. couldn't even organise the proverbial party in a brewery.

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Capt. Dobie says...
11:50am Mon 11 Mar 13

I agree that seeing what neighbouring councils do is a good idea, and it seems some of our nearer-neighbours have a good system in place. However, Councillor Bloggs from CYC won't directly copy another idea as it makes him look like he can't think of his/ her own solutions...

...do we really care if the system works?

I wouldn't.

ERoY has a plan, ask them to share the knowledge, top and tail their documents, hey preston, a CYC plan for recycling.

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prince naseem says...
12:08pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Why no comments on the piece on the former "Great Leader" Rod Hills?

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pedalling paul says...
12:16pm Mon 11 Mar 13

CoYC seem to be locked in to an inherited ".arms length" relationship with Yorkwaste. That in turn precipitated us into landform waste disposal, which is creating an artificial rubbish mountain at Harewood Whin. This to be followed by shared use of an ill conceived road-dependant incinerator at Allerton Park.

About time that Local Authorities were encouraged to sent post-recycling residue by rail and water transport, to remote landfill sites.

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prince naseem says...
12:22pm Mon 11 Mar 13

pedalling paul wrote:
CoYC seem to be locked in to an inherited ".arms length" relationship with Yorkwaste. That in turn precipitated us into landform waste disposal, which is creating an artificial rubbish mountain at Harewood Whin. This to be followed by shared use of an ill conceived road-dependant incinerator at Allerton Park.

About time that Local Authorities were encouraged to sent post-recycling residue by rail and water transport, to remote landfill sites.
Not sending it by bike lol

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pedalling paul says...
1:25pm Mon 11 Mar 13

prince naseem wrote:
pedalling paul wrote:
CoYC seem to be locked in to an inherited ".arms length" relationship with Yorkwaste. That in turn precipitated us into landform waste disposal, which is creating an artificial rubbish mountain at Harewood Whin. This to be followed by shared use of an ill conceived road-dependant incinerator at Allerton Park.

About time that Local Authorities were encouraged to sent post-recycling residue by rail and water transport, to remote landfill sites.
Not sending it by bike lol
You may scoff....but many users of Becky Lane skips went on their bikes...some with trailers. Simple!

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imassey says...
1:45pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Because of the reduced collections at this time of year, we already have two green bins full of small animal bedding awaiting collection (hopefully) this week. When I told my ten-year-old to put yesterday's clear-out into the black bin, she refused and stored it in a box until one of the green bins is empty.

At least she has the right idea, which is more than can be said for the council. If they start charging for green collections, I will not only be putting this sort of stuff in the black bin but will also be putting it in landfill skips at the tip (assuming there's one open near me...) If the council can't be bothered, why should I?

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chunkyyorkie says...
2:45pm Mon 11 Mar 13

They close Beckfield Lane skip and then are trying to charge residents for green bin collections. These ideas appear to have been designed to discourage residents from helping any recycling policy. What did they expect?
We had all these bins and boxes forced onto us at our inconvenience, some people now can’t fit their own cars in their own garages because of them. There was resentment from the off so clearly the straw to break the camels back would be any idea of charging us for the privilege.
Of course they won’t reach recycling targets because people will simply return green bins and use the black ones for everything. York council and good ideas on policy just don’t appear to be on the same page.

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bloodaxe says...
2:52pm Mon 11 Mar 13

What's wrong with the current system, where part of what would end up in landfill is dumped onto roadside verges where it can fester and slowly subside into the vegetation ?

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LouYork says...
3:48pm Mon 11 Mar 13

No wonder when they turn you away from the tips for going too many times! I'm not surprised people just can't be bothered!

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meme says...
4:03pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Has anyone tried to get the permit for a small trailor to go to the skip?
Its clear I am not dumping commercial waste but getting the permit took weeks and I was trying to move house
But jobsworths @ the council are slow ineffiecient and hopeless.
As a matter of interest can anyone think of anything good to say about CoYC?

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bob the builder says...
4:18pm Mon 11 Mar 13

meme wrote:
Has anyone tried to get the permit for a small trailor to go to the skip?
Its clear I am not dumping commercial waste but getting the permit took weeks and I was trying to move house
But jobsworths @ the council are slow ineffiecient and hopeless.
As a matter of interest can anyone think of anything good to say about CoYC?
Yes, surprisingly quick if you send them a copy of your entire V5 for the towing vehicle - having said that not actually tried to use them yet, and have never seen anyone towing a trailer in stop and provide one either at the kiosk.

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bob the builder says...
4:24pm Mon 11 Mar 13

prince naseem wrote:
Why no comments on the piece on the former "Great Leader" Rod Hills?
.. he was a typical political leader - do as I say, not do as I do. Not a good advert for Labour either, but neither our current is council leader. No doubt he'll want embalming and putting on display like his idols.

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tobefair says...
5:02pm Mon 11 Mar 13

By the way, has anyone seen a refuse truck actually working after lunch time?
To work a 71/2 hour day including breaks the bin men would have to start work before 6am.

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bolero says...
5:19pm Mon 11 Mar 13

tobefair wrote:
By the way, has anyone seen a refuse truck actually working after lunch time?
To work a 71/2 hour day including breaks the bin men would have to start work before 6am.
What time do you call lunch time?

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Caecilius says...
5:21pm Mon 11 Mar 13

tobefair wrote:
By the way, has anyone seen a refuse truck actually working after lunch time?
To work a 71/2 hour day including breaks the bin men would have to start work before 6am.
Which they probably do, as I regularly see them out collecting rubbish shortly after 6.30.

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Brickyard says...
7:09pm Mon 11 Mar 13

The refuse collectors in my opinion do a very good job in York, as do the street cleaning operatives, we have a very good one in Chapelfields, who will always do that bit extra to keep the neighbourhood looking tidy.

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ouseswimmer says...
7:13pm Mon 11 Mar 13

The problem is that far too many in the council are paid far too much money for making silly decisions. Their IT system is still stuck in the 70's that's the 1870's!

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Brickyard says...
7:19pm Mon 11 Mar 13

meme wrote:
Has anyone tried to get the permit for a small trailor to go to the skip?
Its clear I am not dumping commercial waste but getting the permit took weeks and I was trying to move house
But jobsworths @ the council are slow ineffiecient and hopeless.
As a matter of interest can anyone think of anything good to say about CoYC?
I think you meant trailer. We have a very good council in York, they are doing a great job, considering the mess the Lib-Dems left.Galloway was the shallow way.

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pitch bull says...
7:19pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Think its time to bill COYC rental for the 1% of my garden their bins have occupied all these years.

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Wiggles says...
8:19pm Mon 11 Mar 13

tobefair wrote:
By the way, has anyone seen a refuse truck actually working after lunch time?
To work a 71/2 hour day including breaks the bin men would have to start work before 6am.
Shall I give you a call at 4.00am tomorrow morning when I get up to make sure I'm at the council yard and ready to start my round at 5.00am - as for finishing at lunchtime - well I wish I could - it will be nearer teatime than lunchtime when I finish my shift!

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ColdAsChristmas says...
10:00pm Mon 11 Mar 13

The biggest problem are targets that are plucked out of nowhere, mean nothing and expected to be met.
Just look at the mess NHS targets have got us into, even costing lives.
CO2 targets to allegedly stop warming while we freeze and pay heavy tax in the mean time.
Now rubbish targets. (No pun intended)

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Pastiche530/4 says...
10:02pm Mon 11 Mar 13

bob the builder wrote:
meme wrote:
Has anyone tried to get the permit for a small trailor to go to the skip?
Its clear I am not dumping commercial waste but getting the permit took weeks and I was trying to move house
But jobsworths @ the council are slow ineffiecient and hopeless.
As a matter of interest can anyone think of anything good to say about CoYC?
Yes, surprisingly quick if you send them a copy of your entire V5 for the towing vehicle - having said that not actually tried to use them yet, and have never seen anyone towing a trailer in stop and provide one either at the kiosk.
I have a book of permits which came very quickly when I sent a copy of my log book. No problems if I take the trailer with rubbish, I just give them the book of permits, they take a voucher out and return to me the book. Very easy and quick service

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spottycow says...
10:48pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Lets all re.cycle the full council and start a fresh..

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GreenshawGrinder says...
12:15am Tue 12 Mar 13

The moral of the story, green bin charges would be a total disaster!

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Magicman! says...
2:00am Tue 12 Mar 13

Locally, changes can be made such as making recycling even easier - such as allowing householders to be able to seperate their waste into two simple categories: food waste, and dry waste... then have these bins emptied by the council recycling team. M&S use this system (though presumably emptied by a contractor) and have zero landfill waste, and when disposing of rubbish it is just an ordinary bin that you dump the crisp wrapper into (for example). The current system of seperating glass, plastics, cans, and papers is time consuming and a waste of resources. Also at a local level, no charges for collecting recycling and no further cuts to current recycling provision.

At a national level, pull out of the baEUrocratic processes where germans impose fines set by America because we put a certain amount of waste in the ground.
Of course there'd be less waste going into the ground if there was some sort of device which could, for example, burn this waste and create energy through the heat and gasses given off in the process. If such a device existed we could build one in a fairly central location in the York/North Yorkshire area - probably somewhere near Knaresborough and next to the A1 for good transport links...............
..

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FieryJack says...
8:04am Tue 12 Mar 13

Alexander will have assumed they could shove all their waste out of the city onto someone else's doorstep into a new incinerator at Allerton. I'm a Labour supporter but do not support his council's appalling attitudes to waste

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Mulgrave says...
8:34am Tue 12 Mar 13

Magicman! wrote:
Locally, changes can be made such as making recycling even easier - such as allowing householders to be able to seperate their waste into two simple categories: food waste, and dry waste... then have these bins emptied by the council recycling team. M&S use this system (though presumably emptied by a contractor) and have zero landfill waste, and when disposing of rubbish it is just an ordinary bin that you dump the crisp wrapper into (for example). The current system of seperating glass, plastics, cans, and papers is time consuming and a waste of resources. Also at a local level, no charges for collecting recycling and no further cuts to current recycling provision.

At a national level, pull out of the baEUrocratic processes where germans impose fines set by America because we put a certain amount of waste in the ground.
Of course there'd be less waste going into the ground if there was some sort of device which could, for example, burn this waste and create energy through the heat and gasses given off in the process. If such a device existed we could build one in a fairly central location in the York/North Yorkshire area - probably somewhere near Knaresborough and next to the A1 for good transport links...............

..
East Yorkshire makes use of a composting system which enables garden waste, food waste and cardboard to be collected in one wheelie bin (free of charge). Glass bottles + jars, papers, directories, cans, tins, tetra packs, foil, plastic bottles + packaging + tubs in another wheelie bin. Anything else ( of which there isn't very much ) goes into the third landfill bin. As Happy Chappie says, this is a system which makes you want to help the council, and I think is as near to Magicman!'s colle ction ideal as any council is currently operating.

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hikerman says...
8:56am Tue 12 Mar 13

On green bin collection day you don't see a lot put out because more people compost and never used the green bin and never have this council are shambolic.

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Candy Cupcake says...
9:20am Tue 12 Mar 13

Try sending out the correct time tables at Christmas, and to top it off we had 5 missed collections!!! The waste management are completely incompetent with no sense off accountability!

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imassey says...
9:33am Tue 12 Mar 13

hikerman wrote:
On green bin collection day you don't see a lot put out because more people compost and never used the green bin and never have this council are shambolic.
The first part of that statement is very wide-ranging and generic. I'd like to know where you get your information from. I have never composted (I'm not enough of a gardener) and down my street, the vast majority of people put out green bins.

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yantosan says...
12:19pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Caecilius wrote:
tobefair wrote: By the way, has anyone seen a refuse truck actually working after lunch time? To work a 71/2 hour day including breaks the bin men would have to start work before 6am.
Which they probably do, as I regularly see them out collecting rubbish shortly after 6.30.
Firstly, that would be the early commercial round you keep seeing, as the other wagons tend not to leave until 7.
Secondly, the problem with the proposed green bin charge is that everyone got the bins free in the first place.
The council is free to charge for garden waste collections as there is actually a legislation stating that.
You'd be surprised how many councils around the UK do actually charge for it

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Dr Robert says...
3:13pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Reference rubbish recycling, the writing was on the wall immediately after this Labour council closed Beckfield Lane Centre. I have seen queues of traffic stretching back to James Street since the closure.It then was only a matter of time until comrade Alexander and his fellow cabinet comrades announced they were considering charging for green bin collection, if that happens, they can take mine and old fashioned bonfires in the garden will resume. Thank you to all the misguided individuals who voted this set of idiots into power, by the time this council have been voted out York will have decended back into the dark ages.

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