Litter bin review across the Harrogate district
Harrogate Borough Council have contacted the PC to make you aware of proposed changes in Staveley as part of the review of litter bins and locations across the Harrogate district.
Background
In 2020/21 a full audit of our street bin stock and street bin emptying schedules took place across the district. We found that the current service provision is inconsistent and resource intensive resulting in inadequate litterbin provision and staff and vehicles not being deployed efficiently.
Currently the bins emptied are a combination of 80 litre litter and 40 litre dog waste bins which are emptied with different frequencies based on the requirements at the time the bin was installed. The network of bins servicing the district comprises a combination of street bins, parks bins and play area bins all of which were installed at varying times in response to individual requests, planning development or historic placement meaning there is no consistent approach to assessing need or establishing requirements in a standardised way.
Dog bins were installed in the district to address dog-fouling issues and in order for the waste to be separated for disposal. However, this is no longer necessary as bagged dog waste can be placed in litterbins and disposed with in the same way.
Historically, responsibility for servicing the bins was split across the three distinct service areas of Street Cleansing, Refuse and Parks. This has resulted in a resource intensive delivery of service with 16 different operational teams emptying bins across the district. These teams use a variety of fleet ranging from refuse vehicles, transit vans to smaller vans.
The current process has a number of manual handling risks. In a high dog walking area, waste sacks can be of a significant weight or where a refuse vehicle is responsible for emptying a bin, the operative has to manually place the sack in the bin lift area.
We use approximately 270,000 black sacks per year and often empty bins because the bin is on a particular round, not just when they are full.
In summary, the lack of a coordinated approach to provision and servicing of bins has resulted in an inconsistent and resource intensive service that is in need of improvement to allow efficiencies to be realised.
Proposal
The provision and servicing of litter bins needs to be refreshed and modernised to meet the needs of the residents and visitors to the district whilst future proofing the efficiency and resilience of our resources.
Throughout 2022/23 HBC will be implementing a new infrastructure using larger 240 litre wheelie bins in bin housing placed in strategic locations across the district. This new infrastructure means that existing litter and dog bins will be removed and replaced with new provision as appropriate.
The new litter bin guidelines outlines the options that will be considered as appropriate to the different locations.
These changes will have the following key benefits:
• A refreshed and rationalised infrastructure ensuring bins are in the right location and provide sufficient capacity for the area
• Less teams emptying bins freeing up resource to litter pick and cleanse areas, therefore improving the appearance of the district
• Protecting our workforce by reducing the manual handling associated with the existing litter and dog bins
• Removing up to 270,000 black plastic bin bags from our waste stream
• Reducing the use of fossil fuels associated with vehicles for collections
• Introduction of recycling of litter in key areas, therefore reducing items in the litter waste stream.
• Clear guidance to determine new litter bin locations when requested
How does this affect you?
HBC have already spoken to their street cleansing teams who service the area to get their views and feedback on the proposed locations , and have used their knowledge and information to inform the locations being proposed.
However, HBC know that local residents also know and understand their local areas and would like to take the opportunity to ask your views on the proposed locations before making changes. HBC are happy to discuss locations with you and ensure that agreed locations meet the guidance in our litter bin policy and the government’s ‘Right bin right place’ review document of locating bins in public parks, shopping parades, urban centres, lay-bys, villages and popular walking routes.
HBC would like to implement changes during July/August 2022 and therefore please provide any feedback by the 30th June 2022.
If you have any other questions or queries, please don’t hesitate to contact the project team at
