County's recycled rubbish will be shipped hundreds of miles to be sorted
THOUSANDS of tonnes of household rubbish will be shipped outside of East Yorkshire because local recycling sites are overstretched.
The Mail can reveal items collected in the East Riding are to be sent to other counties to be processed, possibly as far as 250 miles away in Kent.
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Looking ahead: East Riding Of Yorkshire Council is planning to create new facilities to cope with recyclable waste.
It comes as the council extends a pilot scheme allowing all residents to dispose of food and garden waste and cardboard in new-look brown bins.
The local authority expects to collect 40,000 tonnes of brown bin waste every year once the roll-out across the area is completed by next January.
However, the only site licensed to convert mixed food and garden waste into compost in the East Riding already receives just over 20,000 tonnes of the same waste from Hull.
Now alternative sites in West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Norfolk are being considered.
This is because anticipated extra brown bin waste from the East Riding is expected to exceed the current capacity of the local facility used by Hull City Council, at Melbourne, near Pocklington.
In addition, alternative sites capable of handling dry recyclable items are also being lined up because of a decision to add glass to the East Riding's blue bin collection service.
The Mail understands a dry material recycling plant in Kent could be used.
Councillor Symon Fraser, the East Riding's environment portfolio holder, said: "Ideally, we would prefer to see everything recycled as close to home as possible but it is up to our waste contractors WRG to assess the various options."
He said a number of short-term sub-contracts with other waste firms with compatible recycling facilities would be drawn up to cope with the imminent changes.
The contracts are expected to run until March 2012 when it is hoped suitable new local recycling facilities will be available in East Yorkshire.
15 Comments
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by Astonomia, East Riding
Monday, August 02 2010, 11:28AM
“This is not about recycling its about the council being ahead of the game in avoiding landfill taxes on the council tax bills. This is one of the few areas that the ERYC is proficent. The green bit will come when private companies provide the infrastructure.”
by phill not very green, east coast
Monday, August 02 2010, 7:23AM
“The recycling plant at carnaby is closing with the loss of 20 jobs!!! Why is the council not investing in local jobs for the area, if its too small then why not use the industral esate near by... no houses and plenty of empty factorys there!!!
is it a case of not in my back yard... yes we recycle but dont ask how we get rid of it , cause we pay to have it shipped across the country!!!!”
by Paul, Yorks
Monday, August 02 2010, 6:45AM
“why are people so ignorant or are they just knee jerkers. It costs the council therefore you to dump it in the ground - so think about it are they really going to do that if recycling can avoid it? Recycling costs time and money councils do not do it for fun”
by Teresa Green, in the summer
Sunday, August 01 2010, 7:13PM
“What about the multi-million pound recycling plant at Melton?”
by Random, East Riding
Sunday, August 01 2010, 10:23AM
“Isn't the fact that it's going to Kent to be sorted, better than it going in a landfil!? Surely doing something is better than doing nothing. Personally I'd love to see a recycling plant here, we need one, but if there are environment reasons why we can't have one then the city needs to look at alternatives and this is one.”