Nearly 16,000 homes are to be included in the first phase of Harrogate Borough Council’s review of household waste collections.
From 2 July, these homes will use wheeled bins for household waste that can’t be recycled and which will be sent to landfill. In the next week, on the same day, the council will collect waste put out by residents for recycling.
The same day collection service for household waste and recycling is just one of the improvements being made to the waste service which will also include a full Bank Holiday catch up and improved recycling facilities.
The council is providing a second recycling box as it will now also take plastic bottles from these homes and residents will also be able to include card such as cereal boxes or washing soap boxes and greetings cards. These are all things that residents have told the council they want to be able to recycle from home.
Harrogate Borough Council is the last local authority in North Yorkshire to move to this way of collecting household waste and it has the lowest recycling rate in the county.
The cost of burying waste in landfill is rising. In 2011 North Yorkshire County Council had to pay £9.1m in landfill tax for the amount of waste that had to be buried. So it is important that people are offered the chance to recycle more and to make it easier for them to do so. This is vital if we are to drive down landfill tax which is ultimately born by the council-tax payer.
As part of these improvement measures, Harrogate Borough Council has also introduced a ‘look up’ service on its website. By putting in a post code in the My Area section, residents will be able to see full details of their waste collection service including dates of Bank Holiday catch up.
Note to Editors: The first phase homes, which have all been assessed as being suitable for a wheeled bin service, will this week receive letters detailing their new service including a handy guide with calendar and a frequently asked questions document.
The second phase of 30,000 homes and a third and final phase of 16,000 homes will be completed by the summer of 2013.
