Call for 'significant' changes on recycling
HARROGATE Council has admitted its record on recycling "isn't good enough", as campaigners launch a petition calling on the authority to up its game.
The latest figures show that Harrogate is the worst performing area in North Yorkshire and is recycling even less than a year ago.
Harrogate Friends of the Earth (FoE) is calling on residents to back their campaign for major improvements, and leave the council in no doubt that the public wants better.
Grant Blakemore, from the group, said: "Harrogate Council is making progress in improving recycling, but if they want to make a significant improvement then they are going to have to make substantial changes in how we recycle.
"In our discussions with them there is a serious indication that they are considering making major improvements, but public support is needed to make sure this does happen.
"We have launched this campaign to raise local residents' awareness of the need for change and to gain their support for it."
'Improvements needed'
Calling for a "new policy", the petition asks the council to extend its kerbside collection to include cardboard, plastic and Tetra Pak cartons, alongside the current provision for tins, glass and low-grade paper.
It also urges the authority to implement alternate weekly collections of recycling and bins, extend the green waste scheme, launch an information campaign to encourage participation and invest money in promoting home composting.
Figures obtained by the Harrogate Advertiser last year showed the district was recycling and composting just 31 per cent of household waste - the lowest proportion in North Yorkshire and 333rd out of 394 English councils. Campaigners called its record "embarrassing".
Estimates for the following year suggest the rate has fallen further, with Harrogate recycling just 30.5 per cent of waste in 2009-10, compared to 35.4 per cent in North Yorkshire's next worst performer, Craven district, and way behind Ryedale District Council with 52.2 per cent.
Coun Michael Harrison, cabinet member for the environment, admitted his council's performance was below-par.
"I'm determined on a personal level to do something, because 30 per cent from a council's performance isn't good enough, but also because the recycling service on the kerbside isn't what residents are asking for," he said.
Sign the petition here, or find out more by clicking here.
For the full story, see this week's Harrogate Advertiser. Plans to introduce plastic bottle recycling by 2009 and cardboard by 2012 were dropped by the authority last year, but are now back on the agenda.
“We want to find a way to do it, because it’s the right thing to do,” Coun Harrison said, adding that he “broadly welcomed” the Friends of the Earth campaign.
He attributed the “slight easing off” of recycling across the last year to economic conditions and said this was a national trend.
MP Andrew Jones, formerly the council’s cabinet member for resources, said the authority had been improving services consistently, but agreed that more could be done.
Mr Jones also mooted the possibility of additional “bring” sites, which presently offer recycling services not provided at the kerbside, like cardboard, plastic bottles, high-grade paper and Tetra Paks.
The council’s “hard to reach” scheme is looking at ways to reach the houses in the district currently without kerbside recycling: six per cent lack a box and bag, while 15 per cent are not yet included in the green waste project.
To sign the petition, go to www.harrogatefoe.org.uk
l What do you think? Could the council do more, or are you satisfied with the recycling options available? Email ackrill.news@ypn.co.uk or write to the Editor at 1 Cardale Park, HG3 1RZ
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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