Complaints prompt overhaul in city's waste recycling service

York Council has expanded its kerbside recycling service to households in the city's Victorian streets to avoid having to pay millions of pounds in the Government's landfill taxes.

But the back lanes behind more than 1,000 properties in the Holgate and Westfield wards presented major problems for collection teams who were walking up to three miles up and down the same road to pick up refuse, as the lanes are too narrow for trucks to access.

The council decided it was too risky to reverse refuse trucks down the back lanes amid fears staff and residents could be injured and properties damaged.

However, residents have complained about having to carry rubbish through their terraced homes to place outside the front of the property on the main street for collection.

Four petitions were signed by scores of residents protesting about the changes in the rubbish collections in their neighbourhoods.

Council officers have drawn up proposed solutions and the authority is now considering introducing a central collection point to which residents would have to carry their rubbish.

Other plans include residents continuing to leave rubbish bags at the front of their home but with the option of having a bin to store the refuse in at the rear of the property until the day of collection.

The council's executive member for neighbourhood services, Ann Reid, admitted that the introduction of the new recycling system had presented one of the biggest challenges to the authority in recent years.

She added: "There were always going to be teething problems with introducing a scheme on this scale. We have learnt lessons that we need to consult more with residents – that is something we have held our hands up about.

"We need to ensure there is flexibility in the scheme, while also making sure we are collecting as much refuse for recycling as possible."

Since 2005, about three quarters of the 90,000 homes across York have had their recycling and garden waste collected one week, and their rubbish picked up the following week.

However, terraced house streets with narrow back lanes, flats and apartments were not initially included as they posed a number of practical difficulties.

The extended scheme is being rolled out across the remaining properties and householders have been given boxes to separate recyclable materials into paper and card, glass bottles and jars and plastic bottles and cans.

It has streamlined the previous system, which involved collection crews often having to divide rubbish up for recycling as they loaded it on to their trucks.

The introduction of the kerbside recycling service and alternate week rubbish collections in 2005 has ensured that the city has boosted its recycling rates.

About 45 per cent of all waste is now recycled, compared with just 17.8 per cent in 2004-05.

The increases have also helped the council to avoid heavy financial penalties that would have been imposed if it had failed to meet Government targets aimed at reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill sites.

A report setting out the proposed changes for collections will be put before Coun Reid at an executive member decision session later this month.

Meanwhile a pilot for a new recycling scheme in the Bedale area will begin from today.

Hambleton District Council has announced 200 homes will take part in trials for a potential overhaul of refuse collection.

Householders will be asked to separate their waste into three containers in the hope of boosting recycling rates.