Many more materials are to be recycled after a £1.2 million pledge by the council today (Thursday 30 January).
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins said that the recycling service would start collecting plastic pots, tubs and trays, food and drink cartons, aluminium and foil trays later this year.
And, he said, Brighton and Hove City Council would follow this by starting weekly food waste collections.
The council said that this was a “major expansion of recycling provision in Brighton and Hove” – something that Councillor Rowkins said had come up on the doorstep time and again during the local elections in 2023.
The council said: “Brighton and Hove City Council has announced a significant expansion of the materials the council collects for recycling, coming this spring.
“In addition, the council is investing £1.2 million to rollout food waste collections across the city later this year as part of the budget.
“From May 2025, residents will be able to put a wider range of materials in their household kerbside or communal mixed recycling collections.
“New materials that will be accepted include:
• Plastic pots, tubs and trays – such as yoghurt pots, fruit trays/punnets, margarine tubs, and soup pots
• Food and drink cartons – including Tetra Paks (fruit juice, plant-based milks etc.), gravy tubs, crisp tubes, kids drink cartons, and soup cartons
• Aluminium foil and foil trays
“Currently residents need to find alternative schemes if they want to recycle these items but from this spring it can all go in with the mixed recycling.
“These new materials will be recycled as part of the council’s waste contract.
“The council is committing £1.2 million of our budget allocation this year to a new food waste service in Brighton and Hove.”
Councillor Rowkins, the cabinet member for net zero and environmental services, said: “This will be a shot in the arm for our long-suffering recycling rate.”
The council said that it would also bring in food waste collections, adding: “Over 10 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK and more than a third of household rubbish in Brighton and Hove is food and drink waste.
“Once collected, the food waste will be sent to a composting facility.”
Councillor Rowkins added: “I’m extremely pleased to be announcing this dramatic expansion of our recycling service.
“Our recycling rates have been historically low compared to other local authorities and making these improvements has been a top priority for the council.
“Getting these additional materials, including the food waste, out of the general refuse will improve our recycling rates and of course simultaneously reduce the amount of residual household waste across the city.
“For years there has been a myth that these improvements cannot be made because of a legacy contract that restricts what we can recycle.
“I am pleased to bust that myth by delivering these changes which residents have been requesting for years.
“We look forward to working with our waste disposal contractor to ensure that these changes are successful.
“While the expansion of mixed recycling will be in place in the spring, getting food waste up and running will take a little longer as we need to get the right vehicles, equipment and processes in place, as well as establish the new collection rounds.
“Until the expanded service is operational, please don’t put these new items in with recycling or it will contaminate the load and could mean it all ends up as waste. We’ll let you know the exact start date shortly.”
To find out what items can and cannot be recycled in Brighton and Hove and where to recycle them, go to www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/recycleright.
Obviously it’s good news, but every time the councillors mention the changes, they never mention that they are being introduced because national legislation has been introduced to force councils not collecting food waste to start a service by 2026 and also requirements to expand items currently collected.
On the “myth” bit that Councillor Rowkins refers to about the contract being a barrier to expanding the items previously, it was something the Labour council in 2018 also gave as a reason. When the then Secretary of State challenged the council about poor recycling rates, the then Labour council replied to her by letter and placed blame on the restrictive terms of the PFI contract with Veolia. It was revealed in an FOI request back then and there are articles online about it.
Either the Labour council were wrong in 2018 and they either lied to the Secretary of State or peddled the “myth” and gave the restrictive contract as an excuse, or what councillor Rowkins is saying now is wrong – both cannot be true.
Support this. The new packaging money financing this can be withdrawn if the big corporations paying into it feel a council is not good value for the recycling achieved.
The council is trusting Veolia and a facility struggling as is with this. No Spend to Save review. No paper on risks or alternatives.
Magpie has a Plan B, C, D as they’re innovation and passionate and not motivated by greed
Brighton and Hove Council received £2,443,812 from the Government last year to set up a food waste collection so where has the rest of that money gone if £1.2 million has been spent – what has the rest of the government grant gone towards?
Good steps forward and catching up with items that many councils have recycled for years
I’d also like to see B&H council collecting batteries again. It used to do this, but stopped a few years ago. These had to be placed separately on the bin and would be taken away. I appreciate that this would mean another box on the lorry (a fireproof one, like at the tips) but this is relatively easy to do and must be lower risk than now where some people just put in with recycling and general rubbish (causing occasional fires in bin trucks etc). I know supermarkets etc take them – but making easier will get more recycled and fewer fires. Worth a try? Council collected batteries for years – so far from impossible!
It’s becoming LAW nationally because of the 2021 Environment Act that passed under the last government – the council are doing it because they have to. Mad how they are packaging it up as something they are doing voluntarily.
Spin spin and more spin… Yawn.
Still a good thing though regardless of the reason, right?
Of course – the constant spin from politicians is still annoying though. They are “delivering the changes” because they now have to because national laws have changed.
Wow – the council might have actually done something to benefit the residents of the city for once.
But I wouldn’t surprised if the incompetent City clean or Council make a mess of the system. And as above it’s a national law anyway
Think what you mean is – Wow – the council might have actually done something to make sure it complies with new national legislation that is forcing it to expand the plastic it recycles before it gets fined for not meeting its new statutory duties. If only it had done it through choice to benefit the residents of the city (and the environment) rather than waiting until national legislation made them do it.
Think you’ll find that’s more accurate.