Council sends out waste collection calendars printed with the wrong dates

Faulty waste and recycling calendars have been posted to residents by the council.

Conservative councillor Paul Doughty criticised the local authority when a calendar dropped on his doormat but only listed incorrect garden waste collection dates.

Cllr Doughty said: “Imagine my surprise when I opened it and discovered that data was missing from every month of the year and that even the data that was printed was incorrect – meaning they were advertising garden waste delivery during the winter months when they never collect at all!

“Now they’ll have to correct it all and post it out again, at double the expense.”

He said he has asked how much it costs taxpayers for the calendars to be delivered and why the calendars are not included in the council tax bill letter.

A spokesperson for the council said they are aware of just six faulty calendars of the 91,000 delivered to York homes.

‘We apologise for the error’

Assistant director of transport, highways and environment James Gilchrist said: “First and foremost, we apologise for the error found in this version of the calendar.

“We can confirm that, of the 91,000 calendars which were distributed to all households in York this month, we have been made aware of only six isolated errors of this nature.

“As a result, we have worked to update our database as quick as possible, in order to ensure that the council’s ‘refuse look up’ tool on the website now works correctly.”

Residents can look up their waste collections online here, which gives an option to print off a new calendar from home. Mr Gilchrist said new calendars will be available next week, from 1 December.

“Every year we send out a paper calendar to all residents, as we have done for many years.

“We know that to some residents, a paper calendar is extremely important, particularly some of our most vulnerable residents, some of whom do not have access to the internet.

“We want to ensure all residents across the city have access to this data and therefore, the paper calendar is used to reach as many households as possible.

“The calendar is issued at this time of year to reflect the fact that green waste collections end and Christmas sees changes to many residents’ collections.”