Introduction - Let's Talk Rubbish

This information explains why we are asking you about your household rubbish and recycling in our Let’s Talk Rubbish survey. You can take the survey on our survey Let's Talk Rubbish Commonplace tile or come talk to us at an event. Find out about upcoming events on our events Let's Talk Rubbish Commonplace tile.

Before the formation of North Yorkshire Council, the seven former borough and district authorities all collected household rubbish the same way with wheelie bins, or sacks for restricted access properties. Garden waste services have been brought together and are now provided in the same way, but recycling is still collected differently across the county.

We now want to make the recycling collection service the same for everyone, to help ensure we are making the best use of resources and providing value for money.

We must also meet the requirements of the Environment Act 2021 to improve recycling collections.  And Government expects all councils to recycle 65 per cent of their waste by 2035.

Following a review of our existing recycling collection methods, we identified three different options for further investigation:

Option 1: All recycling in one 240-litre wheelie bin collected fortnightly.

Option 2: Separate recycling boxes for each material, collected fortnightly.

Option 3: Two 240-litre wheelie bins, one for glass, cans and plastic, and one for paper and card, with alternate fortnightly collections.

For each of the three shortlisted options, we have looked at value for money, contamination, and carbon reduction.

Value for money

• Recycling with wheelie bins (option 1 and 3) requires the fewest vehicles, highlighting the efficiency of using wheelie bins and single compartment vehicles
• Option 3 (two 240-litre wheelie bins for glass, cans and plastic, and paper and card collected alternate fortnightly) could see the highest overall cost reduction
• Option 2 (separate recycling boxes) could see the second highest cost saving but requires the most staff, due to the high number of vehicles required to operate the service
• Option 1 (all recycling in one wheelie bin) could see the lowest decrease in total costs and the least value for money. Higher contamination levels combined with lower quality material could result in higher treatment costs and less income.

With all options, there are costs of additional containers and provision of vehicles, but costs will be minimised by changing vehicles as they reach the end of their life.

Contamination

Comparison with other local authorities shows that contamination (non-recyclable items) is lower when residents sort materials (options 2 and 3). As part of any changes, we would provide information to all residents about recycling effectively and helping to contribute to increasing our recycling rates.

Carbon reduction

Emissions, from collections and onward haulage of recyclable material, is the only area that impacts the total amount from the baseline. Only small, marginal changes are observed across all options.

Other things to consider with bags and boxes (option 2)

• Issues with recycling items escaping from boxes and bags on windy days
• Paper collected in bags or boxes becomes wet when it rains and can be rejected by paper mills meaning further costs and reduced income
• The manual handling involved for residents and collection crews with lifting heavy boxes and bags means wheelie bins are much easier to use and empty.

Conclusion

Following an extensive review of the different collection methods, option 3 (two wheelie bins, one for glass, cans and plastic, and one for paper and card, with alternate fortnightly collections) has been identified as the preferred collection method for the majority of properties. Fortnightly collection of non-recyclable rubbish will continue.

This option would provide best value for money because high-quality recyclable materials would be presented at the kerbside and sold to manufacturers who would recycle them to make new products.

Two wheelie bins would also provide residents with more capacity to recycle as much material as possible. A third wheelie bin is provided for normal rubbish. Residents can continue to opt in for a garden waste collection should they wish to do so.

As is currently the case, alternative methods of collection would be used for properties where storage or access is limited. This may include sack collections and communal or different sized bins.