Calls for a new European-style rubbish collection service to be introduced on the Yorkshire coast Yorkshire News

At a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s transport, economy and environment scrutiny committee it was said that the merger of the district and borough waste operations and councils with those of the county council before the launch of the authority next year represented an opportunity to “work better in terms of minimizing waste”.

Councilors were told that while a review was underway of how waste should be collected in the county, the government had inferred that separate curbside food waste collection would be mandatory, meaning residents would have another bin out of their homes in the future.

The meeting was told that one of the most frequent issues raised with councilors was that residents were asking for help to improve their recycling rates, while residents were also facing an increasing volume of separate bins outside their properties.

The meeting heard that there was clear scope for improvements to the waste collection system in the county.

Suggesting a “waste dating service,” whereby businesses could reuse materials that other businesses would send for recycling, Cllr Paul Haslam said, while recycled materials lost 90 percent of their original value, reused materials they remained between 80 and 90 percent of their original value.

Calls were also heard at the meeting to review the planning policy for new build developments to create a more effective rubbish collection scheme and trigger changes elsewhere.

Cllr David Staveley said: “We’ve all seen the new properties that come up and it looks like a scene from the Daleks invasion. There’s a red one, a green one, a brown one, a blue one, all these different colored bins all stacked together.”

The meeting was told that many European waste collections came from a central container buried underground with a letterbox-style lid.

Councilors were told such schemes could benefit urban areas and where people live together, such as North Yorkshire seaside villages, but in rural areas there would be issues over where the container would be located.

Officials commented that while such a scheme would put a greater onus on residents to consider the waste they were producing, it would also be a “culture shock”.

Cllr Staveley responded that 10 years ago it would have been unheard of to have electric vehicle charging points, solar panels or geothermal heat pumps in newly built homes.

He said that with central dumpsters, residents wouldn’t have to find space for the growing list of separate dumpsters.

Cllr Staveley said: “It’s not good enough to say that people might be a little surprised. People are surprised by a lot of things in life, but I think the world has moved on in recent years and we’re open to everyone.” kinds of new ideas.

Cllr Haslam added: “I fully support a more radical approach, particularly as between now and 2025 there will probably be around 20 per cent more houses built.”