YEP Letters November 28

Report suggests green bins could be phased out

A scheme making residents opt in to having a recycling bin could be rolled out across the city a report has claimed. The paper - set to go before a Leeds City Council committee this week - claims pilot schemes to withdraw green bins in Headingley and Harehills have been successful and that other areas of the city could soon be targeted. It is hoped the changes will reduce the amount of contaminated recycling waste. The paper- set to go before Leeds City Council’s environment scrutiny committee stated: “There are areas in Leeds where bins left out on streets is a particular issue and yet recycling participation is persistently poor. Defined areas in Headingley and Harehills have been targeted for a withdrawal of the green bin collection service with residents instead choosing to ‘opt in’ to the recycling collection service. This has been successful in delivering higher levels of uncontaminated recycling and there are other areas of the city where this model may be appropriate.” We asked YEP readers for their views and here’s what some of them said on social media..

Wendy Britton

Leeds City Council took all our green bins and we were left with a small bin which soon filled.

Whilst we waited for the green bin to be reinstated I contacted LCC and told them we wanted to recycle and they brought us a new bin a couple of weeks later. Some people can’t be bothered to even put rubbish in the bin. If anyone cares to check they will find LCC every Saturday and Sunday going round picking up everything from beds, suites, white goods and all types of scrap that infest the area, yet those of us who pay our council tax have to pay for larger items to be removed, whilst these people just dump stuff.

Very unfair and turns the whole area into a tip.

Carl Dimmer

Why would people use green bins when they are emptied once a month and black bins once a week, I have two green bins and they are full a little after one week and have to wait a further three weeks for them to be emptied, LCC seem to be the only backwards council in the country for encouraging recycling.

Richard Jackson

Obviously people are too bone idle to use the green bin correctly.

Just levy a charge on them like you are going to do with the green air charge. Oh wait, too easy to get money out of the motorist.

Nick Bell

Isn’t that a backwards step! So because people cannot be bothered to recycle properly you are going to just give in
and let them use only a black bin?

Sounds more like Leeds City Council simply want more rubbish of any type to bang in to the incinerator at Cross Green.

Why not deal with the issue which is clearly the people of said areas that are too lazy to recycle?

Stephen Meakin

The green bins should be emptied every week and black bins every two, mine is always full.

Val Wheatley

Early last year we we received a letter from LCC it said, if we want to keep our green bin we had to ring up or go online to let them know otherwise they will collect it and that is what we did and we kept our green bin. There are only five houses in the whole of the street where I live which have a green bin.

Julie Ironmonger

I live in Harehills and opted in to have a green bin collected only to look out of my window to see a council employee in my garden, attempting to remove the bin - the same bloke I’d emailed to say I wanted a green bin. I have a monthly collection which is stupid as today they emptied a full green bin plus five large green bags of recyclables. The council don’t want people to recycle. I think there’s five green bins in our street.

Mel Thornton

That’s a real shame. In 1996 I started working in Headingley and was always really impressed by the recycling in the city. We have only just started kerb recycling for cardboard in North Yorkshire.

Karen Stubbs

Think the council should charge them if they contaminate the green bins. I try and recycle everything I can. People are so lazy.

Aly Peacock

If the green bins were collected more often then it wouldn’t be an issue = people just putting rubbish in any available bin space while waiting for their next collection.

Dawn Stanley- Donaghy

It’s pure laziness. People don’t think they are responsible for anything. Everyone has a part to play and if vast areas don’t bother and abuse it then how can recycling in that area work? Think of all the money wasted when a green bin lorry gets contaminated.

Terry Green

Ours are collected alternate weeks so, black every two weeks and green every two weeks. Plus we have a larger green bin. Manage easily most of the time. Also keep glass separate and take to bottle bank.

Mary P Byrne-Halaszi

The mountain of bins along streets is disgusting, unhealthy and a public nuisance. Having central bins in key locations where there are especially clusters of homes makes much more sense.

Cliff Owen

I went on a visit to the ‘black bin’ plant at Crossgates and was told that all the rubbish collected is recycled in some form or another so Leeds does not send any refuse to landfill.When asked why we bother with green bins I was told that the money received for recycled items varies depending on the amount of contamination in the product. All bin collections and disposal in Leeds is done by private contractors who have a contract with the council.

Paul Darby

The council were supposed to be fining residents for non compliance..

Enjoy festive season safely

Coun Debra Coupar, Deputy Leader Leeds City Council, Executive Board Member for Communities

I was very interested to see the article about the fundraising for a ‘booze bus’ for the city in last week’s paper.

We all know the NHS can benefit from not having to deal with the impact of people who have drunk more than is wise and run the risk of coming to harm over the festive season.

Hopefully readers will see the ‘No Regrets’ campaign, which is all about having a safe night out in Leeds, aimed at younger people and coinciding with Alcohol Awareness Week.

This is just one element of significant amounts of work already going on the city to deal with this issue.

Street Angels, Leeds Ambassadors, Forward Leeds Outreach Team and Leeds City Council’s Street Outreach workers and a wide variety of other paid and unpaid people work in the city at weekends and other busy times to help and support the members of the public, keeping them safe and offering harm reduction messages.

Drug and alcohol awareness training for night time economy staff and organisations is provided by the council and alcohol licensing applications are also monitored to check on profiles showing likelihood of alcohol related harm.

I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy the festive period and hope they do so safely, so they get to appreciate it even more!

For more on the ‘No Regrets’ campaign visit http://noregretsleeds.co.uk/

Demanding more for people with arthritis

Liam O’Toole, CEO at Versus Arthritis

Arthritis affects 10 million people in the UK.

That’s one in six of us, half of whom live in pain every day. It impacts ability to work, care for a family, move without pain, things that are fundamental to living.

It’s making people of all ages feel isolated and unable to live the life they deserve.

Too often it’s dismissed as just a bit of joint pain.

But that’s simply not the case. Our new research reveals five years’ worth of quality life is stolen from every person with arthritis across their lifetime.

This is made worse by the fact that two thirds hide their condition because they worry they would be seen as “whinging”.

As a society we can’t tolerate the trivialisation of arthritis any more. 

We need more people talking about arthritis 
more frequently and more loudly, so no one has to 
live alone with the pain, fatigue and isolation of the condition.

We are calling on everyone to publicly say they will no longer tolerate the impact of arthritis by declaring themselves #VersusArthritis.

Get in touch

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