Recycle and Reuse and the Waste Hierarchy
The Waste Hierarchy is used to help waste producers decide on the most environmentally friendly way to deal with waste materials.
It is a tool that we should all use to help us make the right decision on what to do with waste materials.
Waste prevention is the best option followed by Reuse and then Recycling followed by recovery of energy and finally disposal.
Recycling today forms a hugely important part of wastes management and covers a huge range of products. It can be really complicated and difficult to understand what we should all be doing and the rules can vary from region to region.
In 2020, the ‘waste from households’ recycling rate was 44.0% and England did not meet the target to recycle 50% of ‘waste from households’ by 2020. Future recycling targets are going to be increased as a response to reducing the impact of climate change with an aspiration of recycling 65% by 2035.
Across the recently amalgamated North Yorkshire Council districts there continues to be differences in the services provided and some of these waste and recycling collection differences may remain in place for some time to come.
How do I find out how, what and when to recycle in North Yorkshire
The first and the best place to start to understand what you are able to recycle at home in North Yorkshire is to go to North Yorkshire Council website www.northyorks.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-waste and click on the box.
Follow the onscreen instructions to find your address, you will then arrive at the page that gives you the full and correct information that you need.
If you are still unsure whether you can place a household waste item in the recycling bin or if it should go in the residual waste bin, then you should take a cautious decision and dispose of the item in the residual waste bin, all waste from this collection service across North Yorkshire is taken to Allerton Waste Recovery Park where they have an advanced recycling plant which can recycle a range of materials, if they cannot recycle the item it will be incinerated and used to generate electricity.
By using this route it protects material sent for recycling from unnecessary contamination which could render the recycling material as being contaminated and thereby not able to be recycled.
Recyclenow.com
Sometimes you may want to recycle something that is not included in your household collection service and a great place to find out how to recycle these items or to find out if they are at all able to be recycled currently is at – www.recyclenow.com
The system relies on searching your postcode and the type of material that you wish to recycle. If the material is able to be recycled there will be details of the locations that can take the material locally, this might be one of North Yorkshire Councils Household Waste Recycling Centres or a supermarket or you might be advised that the material is not currently recycled.
