A recycling service that collects items that the council won’t take is to stop just before Christmas.
Magpie, is due to end its green box service on Christmas Eve, offering refunds to customers who have paid beyond that date.
And on Thursday (19 December), two people are due to ask councillors why more has not been done to support the service.
Their question follows a message from Magpie to customers which said: “This decision has not been made lightly and we assure you that we tried every possible avenue.
“We understand that his may come as a disappointment and we want to express our deepest appreciation for the trust and support you have shown us over the years.
“Serving you has been a privilege and we are truly grateful for your loyalty.”
Sara Bragg and Mark Erickson have submitted a question to Brighton and Hove City Council which is due to meet on Thursday.
The pair expressed their “devastation” that the green box service will end, saying: “We find it inexplicable that a council that has so often been Green has been unable to support this wonderful organisation.
“We find it inexplicable that a council that has also had a strong Labour presence and now has a Labour majority cannot support a workers’ co-op that offers decent conditions for its members.
“Admittedly, it is sometimes a little difficult to understand exactly what the problem is.
“But the fact that the organisation is no longer taking collections from our doors is a massive loss to recycling and something that the council should take every step possible to reinstate.
“We do not trust council recycling because we see how contaminated every recycling bin is.
“We take every step to make sure that we do our recycling correctly and that’s why we trust Magpie to then take it and recycle it properly.”
The council takes glass, dry paper, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles only from kerbside collections.
The full council is due to meet at 4.30pm on Thursday at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
I have been using this service for over 20 years. I am dismayed that it has come to an end. That said the cost of recycling has gone up and the returns on collecting waste have dropped to such a level that even a well run not for profit like Magpie cannot survive. The short answer is to use less.
Just leave your rubbish next to the bins at the bottom of Withdean Stadium. Everybody else does!
And the Council have removed the paper and plastic recycling bins too so just chuck everything on the pavement!
I heard they are putting cameras there soon to bash out the £400 fly tipping fines, so be sure to take your number plate off before dumping your waste illegally (tip is 2 miles away) …
Every other council in Sussex has plastic recycling except Brighton. The Labour councillors who signed this deal with Veolia cocked up big time. The current Labour administration should try and make amends but they are literally clueless. With Magpie gone, another decent aspect of Brighton chipped away.
You can put plastic bottles in the recycling but other plastic stuff goes in the general waste that gets burnt. Even Magpie had to stop recycling plastic film (bags etc) as it is impossible to move on responsibly.
Some of the major supermarkets (my local Sainsbury’s & Aldi’s do) have a collection point where you can recycle items such as carrier bags, crisp packets, bread bags and the like.
Better coordination between recycling companies is the answer.
Everything that is recyclable should go into council recycling bins..
No exceptions….
If the contractors of that service do not process those items themselves then THEY should pass them on to be recycled by other companies.
Having multiple bins is NOT the answer.
Totally agree ! However the issue is that much recycling is now run at a loss. So it will cost.
Personally, I find bulky waste is the thing that makes people most frustrated, as it’s costly, even with subsidiaries, and usually has a long backlog.
This leads to Flytipping. There’s a way forward from that with regular waste amnesties, which has got to be easier to administrate compared to multiple ad hoc flytipping clean ups.
The reason that only plastic bottles get recycled, and not other plastics, is because it is not cost effective to recycle them. Nowhere in the UK will do it unless you pay them a lot. Most plastics are just too poor quality. Where these are collected to be recycled e.g some supermarkets and other councils, they are bundled and sent off by ship to Turkey or parts of Asia where they will be burned or dumped in landfill (which is generally burning slowly too).
Where manufacturers label their packaging as recyclable that is stretching the truth. Whilst most stuff ‘could’ be recycled it costs more than companies can make from it so simply isn’t done on any significant scale.
The answer is not for recycling companies or councils to coordinate but manufacturers, they should use decent quality plastic that can either be re-used or is cost-effective to recycle. But of course that would cost them a little bit more and they would pass that cost on (plus extra) to the consumer.
So that’s 21st century capitalism for you! If we use stuff that creates rubbish then someone has to pay to deal with it, something that capitalism has been swerving for it’s entire history.
Presumably this is a lie then:
Aldi currently collects around 300 tonnes of post-consumer flexible plastic packaging per year. Material from Aldi’s front-of-store collection points is taken to plastics recycler Jayplas who stockpiles it until there is enough material to sort into two main polymers (PE and PP). This material is then pelletised and the PE is used to make refuse sacks, whilst the PP is used to make crates and trays. The same presumably also applies to Jayplas’s website…
I used the Opt-in Service. Although I wasn’t a frequent user, they were fab. I used to mainly get rid of my clothes that weren’t good enough to give to a charity shop. At least I knew I wouldn’t have to trudge upto a textiles recycling bin, then have to bring the whole load back because the bin’s full.
In an ideal world it would be better to use less, but stock sizes aren’t usually sold for small households that aren’t likely to use a whole bag e.g salads. Also, we’re told to wash and recycle, however what is the impact on water, as a resource and our bills. Sometimes we make choices whether to to wash a peanut butter tub, or throw it. It’s one of the stickiest things I hate washing. My husband has peanut butter, as it’s a good source of protein, and at times it’s helped him healthwise with wound healing.
Good-bye and thank you to Magpie. I wish you all the very best, and hope you all find your dream jobs, vocations. Peace and Love back at you! xxx
Magpie Co-operative have experience and expertise dating back to the 1990’s, when the Council was reluctant to organise doorstep recycling.. They have an important role to play in the recycling “mix” for Brighton and Hove. Many people think that this Labour Council are making a big mistake in monopolizing this service. Where is the independent choice for residents? Where is the consultation?
More support could also be given about the Contract process in exchange for Magpie giving detailed figures about the recycling to add to the Council’s statistics.