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22
May
400,000 new bins to be rolled out in North Yorkshire
About 400,000 new bins are to be introduced in North Yorkshire as part of a major overhaul of household waste collections.
The Stray Ferret revealed last year North Yorkshire Council is spending £8 million on harmonising collections.
The previous district councils, including Harrogate Borough Council, operated different systems.
In the Harrogate district, each household will have two bins rather than one for recycling and the old blue bags and black boxes will become obsolete.
Under the new proposals, each home will get:
- Grey-lid bin for residual waste
- Green-lid bin for garden waste (if they pay to subscribe)
- Red-lid bins for dry mixed recycling
- Blue-lid bins for paper and card.
Several months after the changes were announced, the Stray Ferret asked the council for an update on the programme.
Asked how many bins are being introduced for the harmonisation programme, Councillor Greg White, the council’s Conservative executive member for managing our environment, said:
We are still finalising the wider roll-out programme once we have completed the former Ryedale area, however, we believe the number will be in the region of 400,000 across the county.
Cllr White did not say when the new red-lid bins would be provided in the Harrogate district. Asked how many old bins, blue bags and black boxes would be being taken out of use, he said:
The blue-lidded bin rollout that took place in Harrogate finished in February. This replaced the black boxes for all residents able to accommodate wheelie bins.
When it comes to implementing the new recycling collection process, the blue-lidded bins will remain and the blue bags will be replaced by an additional wheelie bin. However, we will look at any exceptions when it comes to implementation.
We are unable to confirm at this stage how many blue bags and black boxes are taken out of use.
We also asked what would happen to any bins, bags and boxes being taken out of use and whether they would be recycled.
Cllr White said:
We are encouraging people to keep the boxes and bags to reuse them. Any residents that don’t want theirs can take them to a household waste recycling centre, where undamaged ones will be reused or repurposed and the rest recycled.
He said the council was “unable to confirm at this stage how many blue bags and black boxes” would be taken out of use, but added:
“I would like to stress that no existing wheelie bins will be harmed during the implementation of this policy. Residents will keep the ones they already have until they wear out. In most cases they will simply be receiving one additional wheelie bin for paper and cardboard.”
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