Commercial Waste Management York

Perfectly placed half-way between London and Edinburgh and with the glorious Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and Wolds right on the doorstep, York is unlike any other English city. Its history can be traced back thousands of years, with visible remnants of its past remaining for visitors and locals to see. With Roman roots and a Viking past, ancient walls surround contemporary independent shops and top bars and restaurants, there’s little wonder York is one of the top tourist destinations in the UK. There are 30 museums here, so there’s plenty of opportunities to gain insight into how the settlement has transformed from the home of a mesolithic people to a thriving modern city that is home to thousands of people (over 200,000 in fact, if you count those living in nearby villages).

Like any other modern city, York is a hub of activity with hundreds of businesses benefiting from the city’s historical intrigue and architectural beauty. Tourism is one of the biggest sources of income for York, with attractions such as York Minster, Millennium Bridge and Clifford’s Tower bringing millions of people in from outside areas throughout the year. Tourism figures from 2016 revealed that up to 6.8 million people visit York each year, spending over £600 million in local businesses. Of this 6.8 million, it was estimated that 1 million were visiting for business, which demonstrates the important commercial role the city plays.

You’ll find 14 of the biggest companies in Yorkshire are based in York, all of which combine to generate a massive £4.1 billion each year, whilst employing over 10,000 people. These businesses, including Adva Optical, Hocomm and Shepherd Building Group, do their part to bring much-needed revenue into the city, whilst dozens of other smaller businesses do the same on a smaller scale. Whilst many tourists visiting York will no doubt enjoy the litany of cafes and bars that are available throughout the city centre, what they probably won’t notice are the digital and media companies who have made the city their home.

You might be surprised to discover that despite receiving millions of visitors each year and being home to hundreds of successful businesses, York is a city that really has a handle on its waste. North East authorities have been driving to improve recycling and reduce unnecessary waste over the last decade, and the City of York Council is one of the 33 percent of North East councils that have managed to increase their total amount of recycling as a result!

Domestic recycling rates have been steadily rising since 2017, with recent figures showing that 44.9% of all household waste is sent for recycling instead of landfill or waste to energy, that’s a good increase on the previous figures of 42.5%. As you might guess, as recycling rates have increased, the percentage of waste that is dumped in landfill or waste to energy has dropped. This figure has decreased from 59.6% to just above 33% in recent years. Indeed, York no longer sends any waste directly to landfill, rather it is now used to generate energy from waste.

Despite these improvements, York still has a way to go if it wants to really compete with other councils; the City of York Council currently ranks 144^th for the percentage of waste recycled in the country, not bad considering there’s 353 authorities on the list!

Thankfully, there are couple of local projects that have been established with the express purpose of reducing both commercial and domestic waste, and improving the environment for everyone in York. The Allerton Waste Recovery Park became operational in 2018 and processes up to 320,000 tonnes of waste every year from York and North Yorkshire. Mechanical treatment, anaerobic digestion and energy from waste processes are all used to massively reduce landfill usage from waste generated by York businesses.

On a smaller scale, York is also home to Yourcafe, a food-waste saving community action group that collects surplus food from shops and supermarkets, and then creates meals that the whole community can enjoy. Starting in 2015, the impromptu cafe opens at Tang Hall Community centre on most Wednesdays, and sells food on a pay-as-you-feel basis. The volunteers excel in creating a wide variety of meals for the community that also helps to bring awareness to the unnecessary amount of food waste that occurs on a daily basis.