Cllr Stephen Fenton has reported the tetrapak and bottle banks at Askham Bar Tesco that are overflowing. The responses received are summarised below.
Bottle banks
GRUK, the company which empties these banks, reported difficulties with their vehicles on Tuesday 6th April and are not able to collect until Monday 12th.
As an interim measure, Yorwaste have provided some wheeled bins, labelled appropriately, so that there is at least some provision for glass recycling before GRUK return.
Tetrapak bank
ACE, the company who empty the carton bank, are having difficulty with their vehicles and are not able to collect until the week commencing 12th April. Some stickers have been placed on the bank in the hope of dissuading residents from leaving cartons on site.
Cardboard banks
The second cardboard bank has returned after having to be repainted following an arson attack. The banks continue to fill up quickly, not helped by some residents who don’t bother to flatten boxes before putting them in the bank.
For the second time in recent weeks, a bag of clinical waste has been dumped next to a litter bin in the Nelsons Lane / Little Hob Moor area of Dringhouses.
On 26 August volunteers from the Mayfield Community Trust found a bag next to the bin near to the Nelsons Lane playground. This was reported to the council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement team who undertook to investigate the matter.
Waste dumped on 26 August at Nelsons Lane
Then on 18 September Cllr Stephen Fenton was contacted by a resident about a bag of clinical waste that had been placed on top of the litter bin on Little Hob Moor at the entrance to the railway underpass. On further inspection, items including used incontinence products and a urine bottle had been placed in the bin itself.
A local resident has also reported that used incontinence products have been found dumped on Hob Moor in recent weeks.
This latest incident has again been reported to the council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement team to investigate.
One possible scenario is that a resident is being cared for at home and is struggling to safely dispose of clinical waste, leading to it being disposed of inappropriately. They may be unaware that the council can offer help with clinical waste collection – further information HERE.
City of York Council has released a video giving residents an insight into the work of recycling waste crews during the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic. The video is available on YouTube HERE
To ensure City of York Council can maintain frontline services, including household waste collections, and to protect frontline crews from unnecessary risk, immediate changes will be made to garden waste collections.
The council will be postponing the start of garden waste collections from April, in order to ensure household waste and recycling collections are given priority. These steps are being taken because of extraordinary pressures on frontline services during the outbreak of Covid-19 and a significantly reduced workforce. This decision will free up more frontline crews and vehicles to focus on collecting recycling and household waste in a safe way for frontline staff.
The situation will be kept under constant review, with a view to resuming garden waste collections as soon as practically possible.
Instead, the council is encouraging residents to compost their garden waste at home, and to support residents in this effort, advice and tips for easy composting at home is available on the council website HERE and on the Royal Horticultural Society website HERE.
Whilst collecting household waste is an essential service for public health reasons (a service provided under a public health act), collecting garden waste is not classed as such. Garden waste can be safely composted in the garden where it comes from.
Cllr Paula Widdowson, Executive Member for Environment & Climate Change, said: “This isn’t a decision we’ve taken lightly and this doesn’t mean we don’t want residents to garden. In some cases, this is more important than ever to keep active – particularly when self-isolating.
“We are encouraging residents to recycle and compost where possible and to support this, we have published advice for easy composting at home. If you’re unable to compost, then we’re asking residents to store their garden waste when possible, and we will collect it at a later date.”
Bolstering frontline services:
The council has reallocated resources from other teams, so that it can continue collecting household waste (black bins) and recycling boxes. This includes redeploying staff from other services such as public realm and highways. The council is also working hard to increase its staff resource, including training a number of First and Pullman bus drivers, plus processing the applications made in response to the council’s urgent recruitment to support the refuse collection service.
Without green waste collections proceeding, additional vehicles will be made available to enable waste crews to socially distance, whilst collecting waste and recycling. Other measures are also being taken to support our waste crews, including wearing appropriate PPE based on the advice of Public Health. This also includes being issued with wipes, hand gel and new gloves every day. At this stage, face masks have not been issued, as per public health advice.
City of York Council will start work on Wednesday 13th March to construct parking bays for residents of Dringfield Close, off Chaloners Road.
Seven parking bays will be created
This scheme is programmed to take 2 weeks, weather permitting and involves installing EcoGrid (plastic cell) surfacing. These will be filled with gravel and a tarmac vehicle crossing will be constructed to access each bay. The contractor will be working between 8am and 3pm Monday to Friday, although some out of hours work may be required.
The scheme is supported by a combination of Ward Committee and Housing Environmental Improvement Programme funds. It comes soon after the recent creation new concrete bin storage area in Dringfield Close.
A team of volunteers joined councillors Ashley Mason and Stephen Fenton for a litter pick on Sunday 27 May at the old Askham Bar Park & Ride site and surrounding area. Over 25 bags of litter were collected.
Worryingly, a large number of discarded small silver flasks were found, which it is thought are being used for recreational ‘highs.’ The Police have been notified.
Brand new litter bins are being installed by City of York Council in the Dringhouses area. The new dual use litter / dog waste bins replace old bins which were on their last legs. Nine bins on Tadcaster Road have been replaced so far.
New bin outside Dringhouses library
Across the city old bins are being replaced with the new-style bins.
City of York Council’s Recycling Team is helping residents to have a ‘green’ Christmas this year by providing festive dos and don’ts to make it even easier to recycle and re-use Christmas waste.
Greetings cards, wrapping paper and crackers are just some of the items that can be recycled through the council’s household waste and recycling collections.
Councillor Andrew Waller, executive member for environment, said: “Christmas is a time of great joy and celebration for most people, but it’s also a time when we create lots of extra waste.
“Just giving a bit of ‘One Planet’ thought to how we can recycle, re-use and compost Christmas waste can make a huge difference to the amount we throw away.
“Re-using items such as wrapping paper and gift bags can also be a great way to help keep costs down next Christmas.”
Festive ‘dos’ to recycle include:
Greetings cards
Wrapping paper (non foil)
Cardboard
Crackers (remove all the embellishments, such as bows, first)
Bottles
Tins
Real Christmas trees and wreaths (with tinsel and decorations removed) can be recycled at Hazel Court or Towthorpe Waste Household Recycling Centres. Lots of food waste can be composted and re-used in the garden. Visitwww.getcomposting.com for more information.
Festive don’ts to recycle:
Heavily glittered items
Tinsel
Foil wrapping paper
Plastic Christmas trees and wreaths
For some tasty recipes on using up festive leftovers and hints on how to reduce food waste visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
Residents can check their recycling collection days using:
the calendar which the council distributed to households across the city in October and November
get free alerts to smartphones or tablets by downloading the OnePlanetYork app from itunes or google playstore.
The city’s household waste centres are open every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s day (with Towthorpe also closed on Wednesdays). To check what can go in your recycling boxes, visit www.york.gov.uk/waste
All households will get extra household waste collections (grey bins/black sacks) during weeks commencing 18 December 2017 and 2 January 2018… Put your waste out by 7.00am for collection! click CHECK YOUR COLLECTION DAY/DATES: WWW.YORK.GOV.UK/REFUSELOOKUP
City of York Council has “got Christmas all wrapped up and we’ve pulled our festive information into one place to help residents plan ahead”.
The customer centre will close over the festive period.
It will shut at 4pm on Friday 22 December and then re-open on Wednesday 27 December running normal opening hours except for on Friday 29 December when it will close at 4pm.
The customer centre will then re-open in the New Year on 2 January when normal opening hours will start.
We remain open for all social care, housing and homelessness emergencies. In addition, the team will carry out urgent assessments of adults or children and can provide advice or guidance over the phone. Emergency contact info can be found at www.york.gov.uk/emergencies
For more information about opening times, contacting us, waste and recycling and other festive Council services, visit www.york.gov.uk/FestivePeriod
Finally, with so many people alone this Christmas, remember to pop in to check on vulnerable friends, neighbours or relatives to make sure they are warm, healthy and happy.
Mary Weastell, City of York Council chief executive, said: “York has recently been voted the most festive cities in the country and I hope residents and businesses continue to enjoy all this great city has to offer over the festive period.
“I would encourage people to be prepared for the holidays. We’ve put on an additional bin collection to help and there’s much you can do to get ready. Whether picking up medical prescriptions in good time, checking waste collections or calling in to check on a vulnerable friend or elderly neighbour. Although our customer contact centre is closed, our emergency teams are always on hand if needed. ”
Residents are advised to follow our social media accounts @cityofyork, @yorkgritter and facebook.com/cityofyork for up to date information over the festive period. Happy holidays!
Extra waste collections over the Christmas period
All households will get extra household waste collections (grey bins/black sacks) during weeks commencing 18 December 2017 and 2 January 2018… Put your waste out by 7.00am for collection!
The York Council has issued a message saying that they are currently experiencing problems with the service and have not been able to collect the following.
“We have been unable to collect the garden waste from:
James Croft
Jervis Road
Moorlea Avenue
North Lane
Orchard Way
Orchard Close
The Pastures
Moor Grove
Chaseside Court
Northfield Terrace
Railway View
Nelsons Lane and
Aldersyd
We have been unable to collect the recycling from the Acaster Malbis area.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that these issues may have caused.
If you are affected please leave your containers out for us and we will try and collect tomorrow (Tuesday)”.
“Just giving a bit of ‘One Planet’ thought to how we can recycle, re-use and compost Christmas waste can make a huge difference to the amount we throw away.
City of York Council has “got Christmas all wrapped up and we’ve pulled our festive information into one place to help residents plan ahead”.