The first of a batch of six new litter bins have been installed around Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward. The locations of the bins have been informed by suggestions made by residents.
Bins have been installed on Eason View, Chaloners Road and Tadcaster Road, with the remaining bins to be installed on Dringthorpe Road (entrance to Knavesmire Wood), St Helens Road (near school entrance) and Summerfield Road.
The reinstatement of litter bins removed by the previous Labour administration has begun in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward.
The first two bins have been installed, on St Helens Road and Chaloners Road. Four more bins are due to be installed over the coming weeks, including at Woodthorpe Green play area.
New bin at St Helens Road bus stop
New bin at junction of Chaloners Road and Sandcroft Road
The York Council is to remove more litter bins from the City’s streets. It is claiming that the installation of “smart” compaction bins in the City centre and Acomb Front Street has been a “success” and is now aiming to replace old style bins on a one for two basis.
Compactor bin jammed with rubbish
One of the Foxwood Lane bins which will be axed
The smart bins compact rubbish using solar power and are supposed to alert the Council electronically when they are full.
They have had a mixed reaction from residents and traders.
The locations where only one bin will be provided in future include:
Another of the bins that will be removed
Litter accumulating behind a junction box. An increasingly familiar sight in sub-urban York
Meanwhile complaints about litter drift are increasing and a petition asking for more litter bins to be provide is being drawn up
City of York Council is reminding residents that all households must place their new garden waste sticker on the lid of their green bin by Monday 5 May to ensure continued collections.
Garden waste collections started again at the end of March, with fortnightly green bin collections through ‘till the end of October.
The introduction of charging for emptying second and subsequent green bins was a controversial decision of the Labour Council announced last year.
Whilst it is a statutory duty for all councils to collect household waste, the separate collection of garden waste is a discretionary service. However, all eligible households in York continue to have one garden waste bin emptied at no additional charge.
To enable crews to identify which bins are ‘free’ and which have been paid for through the additional garden waste bin scheme (£35 annual charge) households were sent a new garden waste sticker to place on the lid of their bin last month.
Residents were given a period of time during April to ensure the sticker was placed on their bin. From 5 May any bins that are not displaying either a ‘free’ or ‘paid for’ sticker will not be emptied.
Households that receive a garden waste collection and would like to have more than one garden waste bin emptied can still subscribe to the additional green bin scheme.
Residents can join the scheme at any time and will benefit from around 16 collections – which equates to less than £2.50 per collection (£35 per year).
Households subscribed to the scheme will receive a separate and unique ‘garden waste scheme sticker’ as part of signing up which will expire one year from when the payment was made. The additional green bin scheme only operates during the usual garden waste season.
To join the scheme call 01904 551551 or ‘apply for it’ via our secure website at https://www.york.gov.uk/DoItOnline/
To find out more about the new stickers or the garden waste subscription scheme visit www.york.gov.uk/recycling
Residents are also able to take additional garden waste to Hazel Court and Towthorpe Household Waste Recycling Centres free of charge in a car. Residents using larger vehicles or trailers will need to apply for permits to use the site.
Home composting is also a great way to manage waste at home and provide nutrient rich compost for gardens. Visit http://www.getcomposting.com/for further information or to purchase a reduced price home compost bin to get started.
Follow @CYCWaste on Twitter, or like CYCWaste on Facebook.
Asked, at the last Council meeting, to apologise to those residents whose bins were not emptied on time, Cllr Levene refused to do so.
Instead he claimed that only 0.12% of collections had been missed.
He conveniently forgot that 90% of residents did not have changes to their collection days.
Last Christmas some bins weren’t emptied for nearly 3 weeks and, although there have been fewer missed collections this week, the holiday season could being more problems.
Green waste collection stops at the end of the month.
Bins in Foxwood
Cllr Levene protestations were undermined by a fellow Cabinet member who, in response to a separate question about delays in answering at the Councils call centre, said,
“the significant increase in calls week beginning 9th September were due in the main to the waste collection changes affecting a large proportion of residents in York.
Clearly original estimates of resources needed to meet demand had to be re-evaluated once the real impacts were known, and then adjusted”.
The Cabinet member went on to say that
“We aim to answer 80% of our calls within 20 seconds with 95% of calls being answered”.
This compared to the actual performance, in early September, when average waiting times were 2.5 minutes with 40% of calls being abandoned.