Plea to boost recycling
By Rick Burin
KNARESBOROUGH residents could see their recycling service drastically improved, after campaigners launched a petition calling on Harrogate Borough Council to up its game.
The authority has admitted its record on recycling “isn’t good enough”, after figures showed the district was the worst performing area in North Yorkshire - and getting worse.
Harrogate District Friends of the Earth (FoE) is calling on residents to back its 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.”
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, low-grade paper and green waste.
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 Knaresborough Post 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 the area 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.
“Other councils are achieving well over 40, even 50, per cent recycling. That’s what
we’ve got to aspire to.”
Harrogate Council’s waste collection review will report in the autumn. 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.
In Knaresborough, the council has already set up a mobile recycling centre on alternate Tuesdays for residents in the town centre’s “hard to reach” areas to bring their recycling to.
l To sign the petition, go to www.harrogatefoe.org.uk
l Tell us your views by emailing kna.news@ypn.co.uk or write to the Knaresborough Post c/o Age Concern Knaresborough, Cliff House, Hilton Lane, Knaresborough HG5 8BX.
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Weather for Harrogate
Thursday 24 May 2012
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