A council cabinet member is keeping a close eye on rubbish and recycling collections by committing to go out with various Cityclean teams at 4.30am.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet member for net zero and environmental services Tim Rowkins spoke about his early morning stints at a meeting earlier this week.
Councillor Rowkins told the council’s Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee that once a month he got stuck in to help clean up the city.
He goes out with one of the refuse, recycling, communal rubbish and street cleaning teams at 4.30am on a Monday morning, he said, and returns with “a long list of learning” and issues to take forward.
At the meeting at Hove Town Hall on Tuesday (23 July), Councillor Rowkins said that, during the election campaign, people told him that they wanted a cleaner city and to have their bins collected.
Cityclean, the council department which runs the rubbish and recycling service, was currently undergoing a “culture” and management change, he said.
This follows an independent report by barrister Aileen McColgan spelling out whistleblower claims about violence and intimidation at the Hollingdean depot.
The council bin lorries and other refuse collection vehicles are also being replaced as part of a rolling programme to renew the fleet.
Councillor Rowkins said that the systems used at Cityclean were “antiquated” but it was switching from paper to digital systems to “drag it into the 21st century”.
He said: “The direction of travel with collections is it’s broadly going in the right direction but it’s a bumpy road.
“There have been periods of greatly improved service and periods of difficulty. I’m not going to create any false expectations that the journey is over.
“It’s a lot like being parachuted on to the deck of an oil tanker and trying to turn it in a new direction. It’s a slow-moving vessel to say the least.”
It’s possible to have communal waste and recycling bins collected by a vehicle with only one operative. It happens in Spain. Why not Brighton and Hove?
It would require moving all communal bins and parking bays to the right hand side of the road in every residential street (especially one way streets, of which we have many) so the driver operating the vehicle can also see the bin as well as people and property around it.
Except in Spain they have their bins on either side of the road, and the lorry routes are designed to allow pick up from the right hand side. They have cameras for all round vision. As I say, it could be done in Brighton and Hove.
Wouldn’t be cost effective as highlighted elsewhere.
Justin, this isn’t the case in all of Spain. It happened to be suitable in the areas of Spain where you witnessed it.
Indeed. In a seaside resort with narrow streets
No, because drunk people have previously slept in bins and been killed. So we have a much higher standard of health and safety here to stop that happening and operative will check the bins, stand in the way of cyclists from undertaking the truck whiles the bin is loaded as well as clear up the unbelievable amounts of rubbish around the bin that people are to ignorant to put in the bin because they seem to think it’s a library and other people may want there trash.
Hmm, with one operative it will take longer and will require more vehicles and staff to cover the work and not cost effective.
Employ one driver and two or three collectors and one vehicle. Or four vehicles with one staff.
4x the fuel, taxes, insurance, maintenance and purchase costs for a start.
Hea
Brighton is in the dark ages when it comes to doorstep recycling. It’s shocking. Even London boroughs do better! 15 years ago I could recycle all food waste, cartons, paper, most types of plastic, clothing, shoes, metal and glass at home. Brighton is supposed to be the ‘greenest’ place in the UK – but we recycle virtually nothing here. Do better!
Instead, you have to go to your local supermarket, which I agree, is a mild inconvenience. Mixed recycling does the majority of things though, so I’m fairly happy.
cant be a bad thing weed killer was reintroduced after mr rowkins joined street cleaning crews in removing weeds manually and found out that it was a fools errand.
I agree. Sometimes the best perspective is absolutely on the ground level, pardon the pun, to see what sounds good on paper, but in reality not so much.
Toxic weedkiller used in all wards of the city, except his own ward it seems as Hanover and Elm Grove is the only one where it’s not being used at all. Coincidence, or a case or nimbyism in the extreme perhaps? Either way, don’t think it’s a good look to force toxic weedkiller on residents in other areas of the city, but not letting it be used where he lives and where he relies on votes himself.
i have no idea of the situation in hanover and elm grove. I do know that it is clearly stated on the councils web site that tools will be provided to residents of any roads who wish to conduct manual weeding them self’s instead of relying on toxic weed killer.
All well and good to try and create “culture and management change” with the hope of improving things at city clean, but with the administration refusing to investigate poor behaviour of its own (ie councillors) in relation to accusations of political interference levelled at them, and “doing deals” a few years back, then not sure how achievable the changes Councillor Rowkins talks about will be.
Pretty serious accusations there. Have you been in contact with the Returning Officer and they have refused to acknowledge your complaint?
I spoke to an ex-dustman the other day. He was saying how Worthing has a really good system, based on strong teamwork, using updated technology and a progressive management team. I wonder if the councillor would benefit from visiting them, and others, to get a good example?
Has he got a mate who is interested in potholes and highway drainage ?
Potholes was an interesting one since the bottleneck was apparently manpower.
Literally never seen a sweeper truck in town. Do they even have any?
They are usually out super early. I’ve seen them a few times recently.
Clean Air and Clean Streets petition is on change org
Sign to support a public meeting to make better recycling a city solution not a just Cityclean one
Better yet Fred, bring it along to an Area Panel and you can skip the petition.