The recycling review consultation has now closed. We thank you for your participation and we will share the results and any decisions in due course.
We asked all residents across 21 wards for their input on proposed changes to household recycling, which we must make to comply with new government legislation called 'Simpler Recycling'.
Simpler Recycling legislation sets out how councils in England must collect household recycling. It's therefore important to consider how we can make recycling collections easier for residents and more cost effective.
Our goal is to:
- create a cleaner, greener community
- increase capacity
- reduce litter
- improve safety of our Waste Collection Team
- increase efficiency of recycling collections
We conducted an online survey from 23 March to 1 May 2026, along with both online and in person drop-in sessions, to gather your thoughts on the proposed changes. The consultation results will be shared shortly.
Proposed changes to recycling collections
Over the years, we have started to collect more recyclable materials and York residents are doing a great job wasting less and recycling more; you can now recycle:
- paper and cardboard
- glass and cans
- food and drink cartons
- a range of mixed plastics, including toothpaste tubs and some types of plant pots
The current recycling collections system which uses 3 kerbside boxes offers around 165 litres of total capacity for all materials.
Moving to 2 wheeled bins for recycling collections, at 240 litres each, would provide more than double capacity for recycling:
- 1 x 240 litre wheeled bin for paper and cardboard
- 1 x 240 litre wheeled bin for plastics, metals, glass and cartons
The increased capacity would allow us to collect each recycling bin every 4 weeks, with household waste collections, and garden waste collections (if subscribed), continuing every 2 weeks.
A typical collection cycle could be:
- week 1 - household waste
- week 2 - paper and card (blue lid)
- week 3 - household waste
- week 4 - plastic, cans and glass (red lid)
You will be able to keep using our Waste collection Calendar to check your collection dates.
Note that, providing 1 bin for all recycling materials is not possible under current government guidance, which recommends that paper and cardboard should not be collected mixed with other materials, particularly glass. By collecting paper and cardboard separately (as we already do) we avoid small pieces of glass contaminating the paper, so it can be recycled more easily and it's considered a high quality material, from which we receive income (via sale of recyclable materials to manufacturers for reprocessing).
The following would apply to recycling collection if the decision is made to move to use of 2 wheeled bins:
- You'd receive 2 black wheeled bins, each with a different coloured lid; 1 blue for paper and cardboard, and 1 red for plastic, metals, glass and cartons.
- Each wheeled bin would be 240 litre capacity (greater than the current total 165 litre box capacity for 3 boxes).
- You'd be expected to store the bins off the public highway, depending on your property layout, this may be your front garden, forecourt, or back yard.
- We wouldn't take away your existing boxes; you'd be welcome to keep them for storage, or take them to either Hazel Court HWRC or Towthorpe/Strensall HWRC for disposal.
- On your collection day wheeled bins are usually collected from the front of your property. However, if your household waste bin is currently collected from a central collection point, your recycling bins would also be collected from the same location. If you currently have an assisted waste collection recycling bins would be collected from the same location as your household waste.
- If you have more recycling than would fit in wheeled bins, small amounts of 'excess recycling' would be permitted, for example, oversize boxes that don't fit in the bin.
- In relation to the increased capacity provided by wheeled bins, if an individual bin was missed during the collection, we wouldn't return to empty it (unless you have an assisted waste collection) - but, you'd be able to put out excess recycling at your next scheduled collection if your bins became full before then.
- We would replace any recycling bins damaged by our Waste Collection Team free of charge - if a recycling bin was otherwise damaged, or lost or stolen, you'd be charged for replacements, see: replacement waste containers.
If your recycling is collected by St. Nicks, the proposed change to wheeled bins would not affect you.
If your household waste is collected in black sacks, we would be unable to provide recycling bins to your household at this time.