New recycling bins are being delivered in the Richmondshire area — but some residents aren’t impressed.
North Yorkshire Council is in the process of delivering around 50,000 bins to households in the area as part of work to standardise waste collections across the county.
Under the new service, residents will have alternate fortnightly household recycling collections — one for paper and card and one for all other recyclable materials, including glass, cans, plastics and cartons.
New collections will start in October and the council says it will write to residents again in late September with further information.
The authority said this model of collection already takes place in the former Selby and Ryedale areas.
It says it allows the council to increase the amount and quality of recycling collected at the kerbside, reduce the cost of collection, generate a higher value when it is processed and help towards carbon reduction.
However, not all residents are happy about the change.
Dozens of people have taken to social media to raise concerns about where they are going to store the new bins, which replace the existing boxes and bags.
One person said: “I feel sorry for people who have little or no garden space for these bins.
“We should be given a voucher or something to help with buying a storage box with compartments for these bins. So we will have black, blue, red green and one day a food waste bin — that’s a lot of bins.”
A second said: “No one has actually thought to ask us if we actually want another two bins, never mind where they are going to go.”
Another person said: “May I ask where you would like me to stick two additional bins?”
But other residents welcomed the arrival of the new bins.
One man said: “We have the green boxes in Richmondshire and they are terrible. A slight breeze and the street is covered in rubbish on collection day. The rest of the country’s councils sacked them off years ago.”
Another said: “I’m moving to Richmond from Manchester where we’ve had four bins for donkey’s years.
“Most houses in Richmond have plenty of room to store the bins. Bins are far better than a box or a bag you have to lug around.”
The council said a survey of residents in the former Ryedale area has shown 83 per cent of respondents are very happy or happy with the new recycling system, and 85 per cent find the new system very easy or easy to use.
Councillor Richard Foster, executive member for waste services, said: “We need to make sure our recycling service continues to offer value for money and remains fit for the future, while doing everything we can to boost recycling rates and support our carbon-reduction goals.
“So we are now rolling out the improved service to former Richmondshire residents and will be writing to them this week advising them to keep an eye out for their wheelie bins, which will be delivered in the coming weeks.
“We understand that any change to rubbish and recycling collections can take some getting used to, but feedback from residents who are already using the service has been overwhelmingly positive. These results should provide reassurance to residents that the changes are working well and delivering real environmental benefits.”
The council says it is encouraging residents to keep their existing boxes and bags and reuse them once they are no longer needed.
The service will be rolled out in other parts of the county once introduced in the Richmondshire area.
Yet another exercise in change for change’s sake. There are bins everywhere. Okay for our vastly overpaid council executives who don’t live in terraces or houses without storage space but incredibly unsightly for the rest of us.
If you haven’t room for the posh new bins.
Just go back to putting everything in your black bin as we did before recycling was invented.