Residents voice frustration at new recycling bins

Residents in part of North Yorkshire have taken to social media to express frustration at the lack of space for new recycling bins being delivered to thousands of homes.

North Yorkshire Council is currently giving out about 50,000 bins in Richmondshire as part of work to standardise waste collections across the county.

However, concerns have been raised by some people about where they would store the new bins, with one person saying on social media that "no one has actually thought to ask us if we actually want another two bins".

Councillor Richard Foster, executive member for waste services, responded that feedback from residents already using the service had been "overwhelmingly positive".

The new service will see alternate fortnightly household recycling collections: one for paper and card and another for all other recyclable materials, including glass, cans, plastics and cartons.

New collections are due to start in October, replacing the boxes and bags currently used.

Similar methods are already in place in Selby and Ryedale, and North Yorkshire Council said it meant the amount and quality of recycling in kerbside collections could be increased.

It would also help reduce the cost of collection and generate a higher value when processed, as well as helping carbon reduction, it added.

However, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) not everyone has been happy about the change.

"I feel sorry for people who have little or no garden space for these bins," one person commented on social media.

"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."

Another person said: "No one has actually thought to ask us if we actually want another two bins, never mind where they are going to go."

A third said: "May I ask where you would like me to stick two additional bins?"

But other residents welcomed the change, with one resident saying on social media: "We have green boxes in Richmondshire and they are terrible," one said.

"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."

North Yorkshire Council said a survey of Ryedale residents - where the system has been in place for some time - showed 83% of respondents were happy with the new recycling system, and 85% said the new system was easy to use.

Foster said recycling services must offer value for money and remain fit for the future while trying to boost recycling rates and support the authority's carbon-reduction goals.

"We are now rolling out the improved service...and will be writing to them soon advising them to keep an eye out for their wheelie bins which will be delivered in the coming weeks," he said.

Foster added that the council understood that any change to rubbish and recycling collections took "some getting used to", but feedback from residents already using the service was "overwhelmingly positive".

He said that should reassure people "that the changes are working well and delivering real environmental benefits".

People should keep their existing boxes and bags and reuse them once they were no longer needed, the council said.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.