Minutes of meeting held on 31 March 2026 at Pickhill School. Ref: 347

North Yorkshire Council is introducing a registration scheme designed to improve access to North Yorkshire’s household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). This scheme will be introduced from Monday 27 April. So in anticipation of this scheme being introduced, please find further details below. Background In 2024/25, the HWRCs handled 64,500 tonnes of waste and received 1.6 million visits. Surveys show around 16% of visits come from people who live outside North Yorkshire By restricting the service to North Yorkshire residents, and limiting access for commercial-like vehicles, it is expected to generate savings of up to £400,000 per year As well as reducing misuse by non‑residents and commercial‑like vehicles, this scheme will also improve access and reduce congestion at busy sites The scheme follows a detailed review of the service and a 12‑week consultation, which received more than 3,000 responses, with 69 per cent supporting restricting access to residents and 61 per cent backing limits for commercial‑like vehicles These service changes bring North Yorkshire closer into line with many other local authorities across the country What residents need to do From Monday 27 April, residents must register to use a HWRC before their next visit They will need to provide their name, address, email address (or telephone number if no email) and vehicle registration Registration is free and only takes a couple of minutes Once registered, they will receive an email confirmation, but they do not need to bring this with them when visiting a HWRC. Our site staff will check their vehicle registration as they enter the site to confirm they have registered Residents only need to register once every three years for household waste, unless they own a commercial-like vehicle who must register every year Once registered they do not need to book a date and time to take items to a HWRC. They can still visit our sites whenever they are open Residents can register on behalf of family, neighbours, etc. Those without internet access can call the council on 0300 131 2 131, or visit a library or council office for assistance Commercial-like vehicle owners Some people use commercial-like vehicles to dispose of trade waste as if it were household waste. To prevent this, we are limiting these vehicles to 12 visits per year, which is considerably more than the average number of visits for these types of vehicles A commercial-like vehicle is any vehicle that appears commercial, such as a van, pickup, flatbed, 4x4 with cargo area, campervan / motorhome or a trailer over 1.5m Anyone with a commercial-like vehicle which exceeds 12 visits per year, will be charged for disposing of their waste as commercial waste Re-registration is required for commercial-like vehicles every year to reactivate the allowance of 12 visits Emails will be sent after each visit informing of how many visits are left, and a reminder at the point that re-registration is required Communications We recognise the household waste recycling centres are well used across the county, and therefore will be communicating this change as extensively as possible, including (but not limited to); A press release to local and regional media Briefing to town and parish councils Information shared with neighbouring authorities, stakeholders, communications, etc. for dissemination Social media campaign Article in Your North Yorkshire, our residents newsletter Greatest Hits Radio advertising campaign Signage and information leaflets at our HWRCs Please note, further information will also be available on the council’s website in due course