Recycle For Calderdale

Waste & Recycling Collections update (4th February);

Due to the snow falling late on Wednesday afternoon and the freezing temperatures over the previous night, there were some some missed collections yesterday (Wendesday).

RECYCLING
A small amount of outlying farms in the Wainstalls area and a large housing estate at Norton Drive in the Highroad Well area were missed yesterday. These places will be visited today with a spare vehicle and hopefully, if conditions allow, will receive their outstanding recycling collections.

REFUSE
Refuse collections did not fair quite so well. Conditions to some outlying farms in the Sowerby Bridge, Ripponden, Soyland, Luddendenfoot and Cragg Vale were too dangerous to attempt collection.

SITA have been able to put in place one additional vehicle to revisit these un-serviced areas today but only where safe to do so.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

PRESS RELEASE - waste and recycling catch up;

All outstanding refuse and recycling collections were completed by lunchtime on Saturday 30th January.

All refuse and recycling services will now resume as per the scheduled collections.

The Council and SITA appreciate your patience and understanding whilst we have been catching up with the missed collections due to the weather conditions over recent weeks.

IMPORTANT NOTICE - waste and recycling collections resume;

IMPORTANT NOTICE

As planned, SITA have started their scheduled collections for this week.

Those customers who are not due a waste collection this week will have a collection next week, weather permitting. Please refer to your calendar if in any doubt.

All recycling materials presented will be removed and recycled irrelevant of what week it is.
Refuse collection crews will remove all excess bagged and boxed waste presented until such time as the back log is clear.

This is a rolling programme: if scheduled work is not completed by the end of the day, that work will recommence on the following day. The following day's collection schedule will not be started until the previous one is completed.

Using additional resources and working Saturday 23rd and 30th January 2010, the current situation should be resolved.

Household Waste Collections Update;

Household waste collections in Calderdale have resumed today.

Collections were suspended on Tuesday because of the dangerous weather conditions and crews have been unable to carry out collections safely until today.

Mark Thompson, Calderdale Council’s head of housing and environment, said crews would be starting today on main roads and other roads which are safe to access which had not received collections over the previous four days, including today (week A collections).

“From Monday, January 11, weather permitting, we will be starting the scheduled weekly collection service – week B collections.

Additional resources will be deployed throughout all of next week to assist in clearing the backlog from this week’s week A collections.

“We know people are concerned about when their waste will be collected but we would ask residents to be patient.

“Working with Sita we have been doing our best to clear the backlog but the poor weather conditions have hampered some of our efforts.

“In the meantime, we would ask that householders place out their bins, sacks and recyclable materials as normal. We will collect all recycling materials regardless of which week it is. All additional waste will be removed at this time.

“In addition all five household waste recycling sites in Calderdale remain open as usual but please take care as some access roads remain icy.

“I would like to thank people for their patience and understanding and ask that they bear with us.”

If you have any further queries you should contact the Council’s Contact Centre on 0845 245 6000.

Being delivered now: your 2010 Collection Calendar and Christmas Recycling Guide;

Look out for your essential 2010 Collection Calendar and also our Christmas Recycling Guide, coming through your door very soon.

The Calendar tells you which containers and materials to put on which days for the next year; keep it safe, it’s essential information for your household. The Guide contains all the information that you’ll need over the Christmas and New Year period, traditionally when a lot of waste is generated so there’s an equal opportunity for more recycling. In particular, check the changes to some collection dates.

We’ve also got 10 luxury Christmas hampers to give away in our free prize draw, plus 100 mini hampers – see your Christmas Recycling Guide for details.

So let’s make a resolution, after this year’s outstanding recycling – with levels well over 40% - to make an even bigger effort throughout 2010. If you want any more information or advice just contact us.

Happy Christmas from the Recycle for Calderdale Team.

Important – Changed Christmas and New Year collection dates;

Please note that your collections over this Christmas period will change on the dates listed below – remember to put your containers out on these days!

Monday 21st December now Saturday 19th
Tuesday 22nd December now Monday 21st
Wednesday 23rd December now Tuesday 22nd
Thursday 24th December now Wednesday 23rd
Friday 25th December now Thursday 24th

No collections 25th/26th December

Normal collections Monday 28th/Tuesday 29th/Wednesday 30th/Thursday 31st

Friday 1st now Saturday 2nd January 2010

New recycling service achieves record levels;

Calderdale's new improved recycling service introduced on the 20 April 2009 has achieved record levels of recycling: up from around 25% last year in 2008-9 to over 40% in the first months of the new service.

That means that Calderdale has already reached national targets set by the Government for 2010 a year early, and we're well on the way towards the 2015 target of 45%.

Over 60% of the waste that is taken to Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) is now being recycled; that's up from around 40% before. Now less than half of our waste is going to landfill, this is a far cry from last year, when nearly 70% of all waste was sent to landfill.

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member, Health and Social Care, Cllr. Graham Reason, said that he wanted to thank the people of Calderdale for their efforts to improve recycling rates. “This has been a wonderful effort by people across the whole of Calderdale and they can be justifiably proud of what they have achieved.”

Read the full press release from Calderdale Council

Longer Opening Times at your Household Waste Recycling Centres;

Longer Opening Times at your Household Waste Recycling Centres

As part of our commitment to improve the recycling services offered to our residents and to make it as easy as possible to recycle, we are now introducing late night opening hours at 4 of our 5 Household Waste Recycling Centres from 6th July until 7th August.

The late night openings will be on weekday evenings during July and the beginning of August. So why not avoid that weekend rush and bring your recycling down during the light summer evenings?

Recycle your green waste
If you do not have a compost heap or bin in your garden, this is a perfect opportunity for you to recycle all of your garden waste at one of the Centres during quieter times.

Brighouse - Atlas Mill Road, HD6 1ES - Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm, Sat 8am - 4pm, Sun 9am - 4pm.
Elland - Huddersfield Road, HX5 9JR - Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm, Sat 8am - 4pm, Sun 9am - 4pm.
Halifax - Lee Bank, Ovenden Road, HX3 5PN - Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm, Sat 8am - 4pm, Sun 9am - 4pm.
Sowerby Bridge - Mearclough, HX6 3LF - Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm, Sat 8am - 4pm, Sun 9am - 4pm.

Click here to read more about the five Household Waste Recycling Centres in Calderdale including what can and can't be recycled.

95% participation in Calderdale's new recycling service*;

95% of households in Calderdale using the Council's new recycling service*, but some initial problems.

In other areas where it had introduced similar schemes, SITA UK the Council's waste collection contractor usually expect around 85% of households to participate. But in Calderdale the actual rate immediately after the launch on 20th April has been 95%*. In addition to this the high volume of plastics collected in the first cycle suggests that householders had been storing plastics for some time in anticipation of the new service.

But this high participation rate and greater volumes have meant that the Council service has been struggling to keep up. Other problems which the Council and SITA have had to respond to are that 22,000 white bags for recycling plastic bottles were delayed in Customs, and couldn't be delivered on time; there were errors in the initial containers and property survey which meant that some households were wrongly assigned wheelie bins or had been missed off the newly re-organised collection round sheets; and that the Assisted Collection Scheme for wheelie bins was not fully in place. In the short term households that requested assistance have continued on the existing black sack collection service until their need for assistance can be assessed.

Extra call centre staff have been employed to handle the higher volume of calls that Council has been receiving about waste and recycling, whilst SITA have brought in additional crews and supervisors to deal with the increased workload. The rate of missed collections is dropping day by day as crews become more familiar with the rounds. Meanwhile householders are also getting used to the new service.

Calderdale Council Leader, Councillor Stephen Baines, said: "I would like to thank people for their patience, their excellent recycling efforts so far and promise that the new service will improve and soon."

Dave Foster, Logistics Director for SITA UK said: "SITA UK is a company that values the communities in which it is a part and we apologise for the problems that some people have experienced over recent weeks. We are committed to getting it right for all residents. We hope the numerous measures we have implemented including adding further recycling vehicles, additional crews for missed collections and support services to our team will help achieve this."

* Figure calculated and supplied by the waste collection contractor.

Your new food waste collection service;

Did you know that rotting food in landfill generates methane – a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide? Because of this, our food waste can have a significant impact on the environment.

That's why we have made changes to the way we collect your food waste so that you can recycle more and we can process it in a more environmentally friendly way.

All you need to do is empty food waste from your plate and peelings into your kitchen caddy and put it out for collection. Your food waste will be collected every week on the same day as your normal recycling and refuse collections.

To read more about food waste visit our Food Waste Recycling section.