North Yorkshire Council

Executive

21 October 2025

Review of Access and Use of Household Waste Recycling Centres

Report of the Corporate Director – Environment

1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1 This report seeks approval from the Executive to update access arrangements and place limits on certain vehicles within the ambit of the current HWRC Policy namely to:

i) Implement a registration scheme which will maintain free use of North Yorkshire Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC) to North Yorkshire residents, and

ii) allow owners of commercial-like vehicles to access the HWRC sites, but with a limit of 12 visits per annum free of charge

2.0 SUMMARY

2.1 The Council has a HWRC policy framework which relates to the current network of Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) which consists of 20 facilities across the county complemented by mobile sites. In 2024/25 the network handled 64,500 tonnes of waste and received 1.6 million visits.

2.2 The current HWRC policy has been operative since 2015. There are no proposals to make changes to the current policy itself, but rather to update how compliance with the current policy will be maintained and operate. A copy of the current HWRC policy is attached at Appendix A. This report presents information on access and the use of North Yorkshire’s HWRCs by non-residents of North Yorkshire and owners of large vehicles and recommends introducing a registration scheme for North Yorkshire residents and a limit of 12 visits per annum for owners of Commercial Like Vehicles (CLVs).

3.0 BACKGROUND

3.1 The Council is seeking to deliver efficient and effective services as part of a transformation initiative while at the same time looking to whether there are opportunities for savings. In response to these challenges Transformation have undertaken a review in 2025 of the current service together with how compliance with the HWRC policy can be achieved and has identified the following areas of interest:

· Access arrangements for residents

· Number of visits made by CLVs

· Acceptance of commercial waste

3.2 A number of options were considered around accepting commercial trade waste at all 20 HWRCs including providing a strategic network of HWRCs, directing commercial customers to waste transfer stations with weighbridges, and investing in weighing equipment or weighbridges at HWRCs. The review concluded however, that greater benefits in terms of customer experience and potential financial savings could be made through the proposed access arrangements for residents and the number of visits made by CLVs which are the focus of this report.

3.3 Access arrangements for residents to HWRCs

The existing HWRC policy relevant to the resident access proposal is:

· Policy 16 - We will provide HWRCs for the use of North Yorkshire residents for disposal of their household waste free of charge at the point of use. Where appropriate HWRCs will also accept wastes from non-residents as well as other non-household waste subject to the costs of dealing with these wastes being recovered through charging, unless in the case of waste delivered by non-residents reciprocal arrangements are in place with neighbouring Councils.

3.3.1 Surveys in 2015 and 2022 establish that on average 1 in 6 users or 17% are not made by North Yorkshire residents. Legislation (Section 51, Environmental Protection Act 1990) requires Waste Disposal Authorities to “arrange for places to be provided at which persons resident in its area may deposit their household waste” and that “each place is available for the deposit of waste free of charge by persons resident in the area”. Most neighbouring local authorities provide their HWRC networks for their own residents and seek to restrict access to ‘out of area’ residents and set limits on CLVs as set out in table 1 below:

Table 1: HWRC service provision in neighbouring authorities

Area	No. of HWRCs	Household Policy	CLV Policy
Bradford	8	Resident permit	CLV and trailers over 1.5m – annual permit with no restrictions on visits or temporary with max 3 visits in 12 months
City of York	2	No restriction	Max height 1.9m. Limited to 12 visits per year.
Cumberland / Westmorland and Furness	14	Resident permit	Restrictions on CLV and trailers – max 3m / 10ft long
Durham	13	Resident permit	No trailers >3m No vehicles >6m No vehicles >3.5t gross weight
East Riding	10	Resident permit	Trailer – max 1.8m x 1.2m No vehicles >3.5t gross weight
Leeds	8	Provided to residents, withdrawn booking system	12 visits per year Trailer – max 1.8 x 1.2m No vehicles >3.5 gross weight
Middlesborough	1	Booking System for residents only – max 26 visits per year	13 visit per year for domestic vans and trailers
Stockton on Tees	1	Booking system for residents only	Permit required for vans and trailers limited to 12 visit per year
Redcar	1	Booking system for residents only	Trailer – max 1.8m x 1.2m No vehicles >3.5t gross weight

3.3.2 Due to a high influx of non-residents from the Middlesbrough and Stockton-Tees areas, a resident only permit scheme was put in place in 2016 at Stokesley HWRC, and successfully reduced the tonnage throughput by 22% without adversely affecting fly tipping (see section 4.2). Out of county residents can pay to dispose of their waste at Stokesley HWRC although this option is rarely taken.

3.4 Commercial-Like-Vehicles (CLVs)

The existing HWRC policy relevant to the CLV proposal is:

· Policy 21 - We will introduce access restrictions on large vehicles at its HWRCs based on published guidelines.

3.4.1 The council already operates a registration scheme that requires residents with vans or pickup vehicles to pre-register with the council before they visit a HWRC. Once registered there is no restriction on the number of times a CLV can visit. It is very difficult for site operatives to determine whether a CLV is carrying household or commercial waste. The absence of a threshold limiting the number of visits means that the council is likely to be accepting commercial waste free of charge for which it has no obligation to do so.

3.4.2 Benchmarking with 37 local authorities shows that 87% regulate access by CLVs either through permits or advanced booking systems, with the most common limit being 12 annual visits. By cross referencing vehicle details from the registration scheme with the ANPR system, we understand that 7% of CLVs visit HWRCs in North Yorkshire more than 12 times per annum, sometimes 40 times a year or more. We anticipate that a limit of 12 visits per year will see a reduction of 36,000 visits in vehicles designed to accommodate large payloads and volumes. A bench marking discussion with a local authority illustrated that 99.6% of their residents with CLVs do not use the full allocation of 12 permits per year, so the proposed threshold is considered to be appropriate. On this basis 12 visits per year is sufficient for most residents using CLVs depositing household waste, but effective in deterring tradespersons depositing business waste free of charge.

3.4.3 The council currently allows trailers of unlimited size access to HWRCs, the only restriction is that agricultural vehicles are not permitted. The carrying capacity of large trailers is similar to CLVs. In addition to the carrying capacity, large trailers are challenging to manoeuvre, especially at small sites where space is at a premium and where members of the public are in proximity. For these reasons it is common practice for authorities to limit the size of trailer and number of visits in line with the approach for CLVs (see Table 1).

3.5 Proposal

To improve the service by ensuring access is free of charge to North Yorkshire residents only, it is proposed that residents register with the council prior to using HWRCs by providing their name, address, and vehicle registration number. Proof of residency is not needed as the system will check whether the address is within North Yorkshire. On arrival at a HWRC the ‘meet & greet’ staff member enters the vehicle registration number on their tablet and the North Yorkshire resident is admitted. Meet and greet staff are able to offer advice including container location and recycling information, monitor vehicles numbers on site, and help address queuing. A communication plan will be developed to widely advertise the new access arrangements prior to going live. Despite best endeavours some residents will be unaware of the new arrangements. During the initial roll out period of up to 3 months, additional site staff at the busiest sites will assist non-registered visitors to apply in real time or use an online post code checker to allow access on the first occasion. After the roll out period, non-registered visitors will apply in real time or return once registered. No paper or electronic permits are required. Staff at the gates will be advised and trained to avoid conflict. The meet and greet approach will continue beyond the three-month period to allow these proposals to take affect but also, in other local authorities has helped to direct visitors to the correct containers, maintain vehicle throughput and improve the recycling performance.

3.5.1 To ensure commercial waste is not deposited free of charge, owners of CLVs & trailers (up to 10 feet in length) would be allowed up to 12 visits per annum without paying. A registered CLV or trailer owner who has used the sites 12 times in 12 months would be able to pay a commercial charge or would be directed to the nearest disposal facility. Charities currently register CLVs and would be advised of the new process. The number of visits made by a charity free of charge will be no fewer than 12 per year and we will look to provide support around waste minimisation, reuse and recycling.

4.0 CONSULTATION UNDERTAKEN AND RESPONSES

4.1 A 12-week engagement exercise from November 2023 to January 2024 invited stakeholders to submit their views on potential changes to HWRCs. The engagement exercise was popular securing over 3,000 submissions.

4.2 The majority of respondents (69%) are in favour of restricting access to North Yorkshire residents, with similar support (71%) for charging out of county residents. The majority of respondents (60%) are in favour of limiting the number of occasions commercial like vehicles visit sites, with similar support (61%) for setting the limit at 12 visits per annum. Residents disagreeing with the proposals perceive an increased level of fly tipping will result. The perception that preventing access or charging out of county residents will lead to fly tipping is not supported by evidence. Stokesley HWRC currently operates a permit scheme for North Yorkshire resident access and levies a charge to out of County residents. Similar concerns were raised when the scheme was implemented in 2016, however in reality there was no evidence of sustained or widespread fly tipping. Likewise, a report conducted by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) concluded that a ‘Comparison of fly-tipping rates does not show that those local authorities that have introduced charges for some HWRC waste have higher fly-tipping rates than those without charges.’ One to one conversations with local authorities that have implemented these measures support the conclusion that fly tipping is a perceived impact that is not supported by experience or evidence. Should the proposal be approved, officers will review incidents of fly tipping to monitor whether any discernible impact is attributable to the operating practices at HWRCs.

4.3 Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee (TEEE O&S)

4.3.1 Officers attended a meeting of TEEE O&S on 04 September 2025. In summary, there was broad support for updating access arrangements and placing limits on certain vehicles within the ambit of the current HWRC Policy. There was however, discussion on how best to achieve the aims.

4.3.2 The proposal for residents to register to use any of the 20 permanent HWRCs was discussed, and whether only those sites situated near the County boundary should require residents to register. Whilst it is acknowledged that out of county usage does vary across the HWRC network, all sites do receive out of county visits. A partial implementation would be challenging to communicate in a clear way and could stimulate a change in behaviour whereby more visits are made to those HWRCs where there is no requirement to register. A summary of out of county use at each HWRC is provided in Appendix B. The need and frequency to re-register was also briefly considered, with a clear steer from the committee to officers that this should be avoided or minimised if possible.

4.3.3 The proposal for residents to register prior to visiting HWRCs as opposed to site staff using an online postcode checker was also discussed. It is feasible that an online checker could be used whereby residents inform the site staff of their post code and are admitted subject to the post code being located within the North Yorkshire area. Unfortunately, the online postcode checker is a real time process that does not retain information for the Council to use at a future date. We would be unable to contact high frequency users who may be delivering commercial waste free of charge, and we would still require a system to address excessive waste being delivered in CLVs. In addition, if there is an instance of abuse towards site operatives, then we will be able to view that through the CCTV footage and can match the vehicle registration back to the customers address and could take further action against the customer if the situation warranted it. The benefits of using a meet and greet approach during the registration rollout to provide recycling information and advice to drivers was welcomed.

4.3.4 The perceived impact of fly tipping was discussed and has been described in section 4.2 of this report. The committee were keen that the levels and locations of reported fly tipping be closely monitored following implementation and appropriate enforcement action be taken if required.

5.0 CONTRIBUTION TO COUNCIL PRIORITIES

5.1 The proposal contributes to the following Council ambitions:

· Place and Environment: a clean, environmentally sustainable and attractive place to live, work and visit.

· Organisation: Good quality, value for money services that are customer focused and accessible to all.

6.0 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED

6.1 A number of options and different approaches have been considered to ensure that access to North Yorkshire’s network of HWRCs is available to residents in its area free of charge and to maintain reasonable access to owners of CLVs and trailers. These include

· do nothing – does not address out of county use or excess waste from CLVs.

· request proof of residency via a utility or council tax bill - is not a robust or long-term solution and does not address excess waste from CLVs.

· implement a booking system - allocation of specific time slots to visitors does manage traffic volumes and queuing times. However, it is considered that the desired benefits can be delivered through a registration scheme which does not determine when visits are made.

· introduce a permit scheme – a paper or electronic permit scheme is an effective way to regulate visits. However, the desired benefits can be delivered through a registration scheme which does not require presentation of a permit and is simply based on the vehicle registration number.

· introduce a registration scheme (the proposal).

6.2 Extensive benchmarking with local authorities implementing similar measures, one to one conversation with councils, and demonstrations from product suppliers has resulted in the registration scheme being proposed. The proposals outlined in the report strike a balance between ease of use for residents (no paper or electronic permits required) and ensuring that services are provided in a policy compliant way to only those entitled to use them. The impact of the proposal will, subject to approval, be monitored to ensure the benefits outlined in this report are realised.

7.0 IMPACT ON OTHER SERVICES/ORGANISATIONS

7.1 The waste service has worked closely with the Projects Transformation team to identify the support needed to deliver this project. The merits of developing an inhouse solution or securing a system from a third party have been considered. In the first instance and in consideration of the high demand on council resources, it is preferable to purchase a product and deliver savings without delay. Once in place, we will review the effectiveness and whether an inhouse solution can be developed. Implementation will be agreed with the Customer Resource Centre and cognisant of commitments to deliver transformation projects on top of business-as-usual activities. Non-digital residents will be offered alternative registration support via Customer Services. To date the proposal has been developed in cooperation with ICT, Procurement, Communications, Business Change, Project Management, Customer Resource Centre, Yorwaste and the Waste Service. Subject to approval a Resource Plan will be reviewed and updated throughout project lifecycle.

7.2 Charities currently register CLVs and would be advised of the new process. The number of visits made by a charity free of charge would be agreed on an individual basis to reflect the charitable activities undertaken, the origin of the waste and the support that can be offered by the council. The number of visits made by a charity free of charge will be no fewer than 12 per year and we will look to provide support around waste minimisation, reuse and recycling.

8.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

8.1 In addition to improving the service for residents, the financial objective is to achieve savings of £300,000. These savings contribute towards the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

8.2 Financial modelling estimates a reduction in tonnage and disposal costs of a minimum of £300,000 and up to £405,000 comprised of measures to address out of county users (£305,000) and limiting access to CLV owners (£100,000). A number of assumptions have been made, including the number of out of county visits made which is based on historic data, the average weight of waste delivered per vehicle, and the effectiveness of the registration scheme considering staff availability, difficult & aggressive customers, and hard/ soft implementation. Estimated system fees average at £9,000 per year over the first 3 years, with a temporary increase in staff estimated to cost up to £66,000 (one-off cost). This will deliver an average net saving of up to £374,000 per annum. The actual saving will be reviewed against the MTFS such that any difference in committed saving is reconciled.

9.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

9.1 Section 51, Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires Waste Disposal Authorities to “arrange for places to be provided at which persons resident in its area may deposit their household waste” and that “each place is available for the deposit of waste free of charge by persons resident in the area”. A Waste Disposal Authority may also make places “available for the deposit of household or other controlled waste by other persons on such terms as to payment (if any) as the authority determines”.

9.2 The existing HWRC policies relevant to the proposals are:

· Policy 21 - We will introduce access restrictions on large vehicles at its HWRCs based on published guidelines.

9.3 There are no changes proposed to these specific policies which form part of the Council’s Policy Framework, but the proposals update how compliance with the HWRC policy can be improved and achieved. In relation to policy 16, the proposed registration scheme is the process by which North Yorkshire residents can continue to dispose of their waste free of charge. It is proposed that residents from outside the North Yorkshire area will be able to deposit their waste subject to a charge, as is already the case at Stokesley HWRC. The Council has and will continue to explore reciprocal, cost sharing arrangements with other neighbouring local authorities that could be implemented subject to agreement being reached at a later date.

9.4 In relation to policy 21, the existing and proposed arrangements for large vehicles are set out in Appendix C.

10.0 EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS

10.1 The Equalities Impact Assessment (Appendix D) concludes that once the simple registration has been completed there should be no further issues. As well as the savings made from stopping out of county users disposing of their waste and commercial waste traders disposing their waste as household waste, residents may also have a better experience at sites where queuing is an issue due to a reduction in overall visits.

11.0 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS

11.1 The Climate Change Impact Assessment (Appendix E) concludes that the proposal could have a positive environmental impact by reducing the number of vehicles from out of the county depositing waste at North Yorkshire’s HWRCs and limiting onward transport emissions. The impact has already been evidenced at Stokesley HWRC where waste tonnages were reduced by 22%.

12.0 POLICY IMPLICATIONS

12.1 There are no policy implications. Existing policies 16 and 21 of the HWRC Policy remain unchanged. The proposals update how compliance with the HWRC policy can be improved and achieved.

13.0 ICT IMPLICATIONS

13.1 An IT systems options appraisal has been undertaken and supports the proposal to implement a registration system at HWRCs. End-to-end mapping of the customer journey to produce the on and offline customer processes is complete. Subject to approval, the next steps will be to purchase and implement a new IT system in line with agreed processes and workflows.

14.0 CONCLUSIONS

14.1 A review of access and use of HWRC services shows that North Yorkshire Council is in the minority by not implementing measures limiting the use of its Household Waste Recycling Centres to its residents free of charge, and by allowing owners of commercial-like vehicles unlimited access. Perceived impacts on fly tipping are not supported by the experience of councils or independent research. The proposals for residents to register and to limit owners of CLVs to 12 visits a year without charge strikes a balance between ease of use for residents (no paper or electronic permits required) and ensuring that services are provided without cost to only those eligible, are supported by most residents responding to the consultation, will improve services for residents and make a significant financial contribution to the MTFS.

15.0 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

15.1 The proposals aim to improve services for residents by ensuring that individuals who are eligible can access Household Waste Recycling Centres free of charge, reducing the potential for commercial waste or waste brought by non-residents to be deposited free of charge.

16.0

16.1

RECOMMENDATION

This report seeks member approval to:

i) Implement a registration scheme which will maintain free use of North Yorkshire Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC) to North Yorkshire residents, and

ii) allow owners of commercial-like vehicles to access the HWRC sites, but with a limit of 12 visits per annum free of charge.

APPENDICES:

Appendix A – Household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) policies

Appendix B - HWRC Out of County Information

Appendix C – Existing and Proposed Arrangements for vehicles using HWRCs

Appendix D – Equalities Impact Screening Form

Appendix E – Climate Change Impact Assessment

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS: None

Karl Battersby

Corporate Director – Environment Directorate

County Hall

Northallerton

15 October 2025

Report Author – Peter Jeffreys, Head of Service – Waste

Kerry Green, Waste Contracts & Compliance Manager

Presenter of Report – Michael Leah, Assistant Director – Environmental Services

Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.