Plastic pots, tubs and trays can be put in mixed recycling bins from Monday (30 June), Brighton and Hove City Council said.
The items that can be put out for collection from next week include containers such as yoghurt pots, meat trays, fruit punnets, margarine tubs and soup pots.
The move is part of the council’s commitment to expand the range of materials that are collected for recycling.
In the past, the council has been criticised for its poor recycling rates compared with other councils. At the last local elections, Labour campaigned on a pledge to tackle this and widen the range of items that could be collected.
The council said: “From Monday you can put the following items in your mixed recycling bin
- plastic pots used for yoghurt, prepared fruit, mini-desserts, soup and cosmetics such as skin cream and hair gel
- plastic tubs that contained margarine, chocolate, pasta sauces, ice cream, baked goods, such as bite-sized flapjacks, and laundry powder
- plastic trays or bowls such as meat and fish trays, ready meal bowls or trays, snack and salad containers, fruit punnets, containers for fresh or prepared vegetables, cakes and pastries, trays inside boxes of chocolates
“Take off any plastic film first as this can’t be recycled and put them in clean, dry and loose.
“If your recycling is placed in a sack or bin bag, it can’t be separated and will end up as waste.
“Food and drink containers need be cleaned before going in the recycling.
“These new materials can go in either kerbside or communal recycling, along with plastic bottles, tins and cans, paper and cardboard.
“Communal recycling bins have either light blue or black lids – check the sign on the outside of the bin.”
The Labour deputy leader of the council Tim Rowkins said: “Expanding the range of materials we can recycle is a top priority for us and I’m very pleased that we can now accept plastic pots, tubs and trays in our collections.”
Councillor Rowkins, who is also the council’s cabinet member for net zero and environmental services, said: “They don’t need to be separated – you can just put them in with your paper and card, tin cans, empty aerosols and plastic bottles.
“With food waste collections also coming in the autumn, we are making major progress on providing more opportunities to recycle.
“Last year, at our communal recycling points, we installed 54 more bins, with orange lids, for cartons and Tetra Paks, and 21 new small electrical bins, with pink lids.”
“Recycling these items is of course better than putting them in the general waste but better still is reducing the amount of plastic we use in the first place.
“Brighton and Hove Food Partnership has some great tips on where to buy plastic-free and the Plastic-Free July campaign has practical information to help everyone reduce plastic waste.”
The council added: “Plastic films and packaging such as crisp packets, bread bags, biscuit wrappers and pet food pouches can be recycled at larger supermarkets. You can reuse carrier bags or recycle them at supermarkets too.
“Hard plastics such as plant pots, garden furniture or children’s toys can be taken to one of the two household waste recycling sites in Brighton and Hove.
“Anything that is still in a usable condition can be donated to charity shops or passed on to others via various online platforms.
“For a full list of what can be recycled where, visit www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/recycleright.”
This is quite unbelievable. Our recycling has not been collected since Christmas despite constant emails to the City Clean rep at the Council. Being told we’re able to put more stuff in unemptied bins is laughable.
Yep, and the recycling is only being expanded because the government nationally have mandated that ALL councils in the country have to collect the same items.
Brighton and Hove have not collected these items for decades because of the dreadful PFI loan the Labour party signed up to in 2003 which restricted the items that could be collected.
The Government have given the council millions of pounds in new burdens funding and new money that is collected from packaging taxes, some of which the council have now been able to expand the processing site so they can collect more plastics. What with the millions received from the government, and the fact that from March the council would be failing its legal duties if it did not collect yoghurt pots etc, the council is being FORCED to expand recycling.
Everytime I read an article on this it sounds like Labour councillors have amnesia about why it’s happening now. What’s still dreadful is the city is still locked into the PFI contract for years, and the amount of money spent on it over the last 20 years is shocking (especially when service and collections have been so poor!).
Most of these items need to be washed out (some quite comprehensively, depending on what the contents were). I would guess that the average household has a lot of these in any given week, say. I’m only one person and I have quite a few, many of which contain claggy remnants of what was in them and, quite often, a simple quick rinse under the tap won’t get rid of the clag. We all want to recycle this additional stuff if possible, but in reality a lot of it can’t be put in a recycling bin or whatever without significant water use. At the same time Southern Water is urging us (nearly pleading with us) to save water because they don’t have enough of it and the water used in cleaning these items goes on our bills. It would be instructive to know something, or even anything, about the costs/benefits of all this if any analysis has actually been done.
Hi Jacko, You’re one of the few people that have mentioned water. I agree with you, not only the impact on bills, but the impact on water itself.
One of my items which is difficult to clean is Peanut Butter tubs. My husband will try to clean these out, but I don’t for the sheer amount of water, not to mention elbow grease.
They sure do. And there’s already a solution out there for containers to have a non-stick internal coating. Doing the right thing is harder than just throwing it away. Still, if this allows for even some of our items to go into recycling instead, that’s a good thing. Even if the peanut butter jar doesn’t make the cut.
We just wash things like this after we have finished washing our mealtime pots, pans, & crockery, no need to wash them separately, I would have thought that`s what everyone does.
Whilst we make sure everything is clean and can be recycled, rinsing does use water and I imagine some of what is going down the sink is microplastics.
Cllr can you recycle old bottles of glyphosate weedkiller also, please?
Give it to me and I’ll use it.
When in opposition, Labour councillors spent years deriding what they called “pet Green projects”. Now they are being forced to eat humble pie by their own government.
…by doing more green things than the Greens ever did?
Such as??
Apologies for the long list. There are a LOT of things.
Introduced kerbside recycling for plastic pots, tubs, trays, cartons, and foil. Labour delivered a major expansion of recyclable materials citywide; something the Greens repeatedly failed to implement.
Allocated £1.2 million to begin food waste collections across the city. While the Greens talked about food waste, Labour budgeted and launched the rollout ahead of national deadlines.
Retrofitted Hollingdean Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Labour upgraded the city’s recycling facility to handle mixed plastics; enabling the 2025 expansion. The Greens did not progress this.
Improved Cityclean operations and service reliability. Under Labour, Cityclean was restructured, leading to improved performance after years of issues under Green leadership.
Resolved long-running waste service industrial disputes. Labour worked with unions to settle disputes that had festered under the Greens, restoring service stability.
Expanded communal recycling points and small electrical recycling facilities. Labour introduced new bin types and increased recycling access across neighbourhoods.
Delivered early progress on Valley Gardens Phase 3 with improved consultation. Labour pushed forward with this major green transport corridor, making adjustments based on access and disability concerns.
Approved new council housing schemes with higher energy-efficiency standards. Labour advanced affordable housing projects with embedded sustainability measures.
Initiated a structured retrofit plan for council housing stock. Labour began a clear strategy to access national retrofit funds and improve energy efficiency in social housing.
Expanded school streets and active travel schemes with wider community buy-in. Labour adapted designs to maintain access while improving safety and sustainability, avoiding some of the backlash seen under Green rollout.
Prepared Brighton & Hove for mandatory food waste and kerbside reforms ahead of schedule
Labour began delivery well before the 2026 national requirement. Greens missed that opportunity while in office.
Improved budget management and financial delivery in green programmes. Labour passed a balanced budget without major council tax hikes while still funding environmental upgrades; an area where the Greens often overpromised and underdelivered.
You cannot take credit for pots and trays recycling, as Fletch has pointed out, this was passed by the Tories, and only being implemented locally because you are being forced to, and funded by national government. It could have been brought in locally years ago, were it not for the disastrous expansion of the Veolia contract which Labour supported.
The city could have had food waste recycling two decades ago had Labour supported a Green NoM on this. But no, Labour supported the Tories to quash the idea. This was before the 2008 financial crash, and when the Greens tried again when in administration, the money was no longer available.
To say that Labour has improved rubbish collections is just risible! I won’t waste any more time on it, other than to say that this has festered for decades, under Tories and Labour too – and you still haven’t sorted it.
1,600 outstanding pay claims reported only this week …
Making the city’s social housing stock more energy efficient was brought in by the Greens. It’s nice that Labour are continuing with what the Greens started, but then so you should!
You are required to pass a balanced budget by law, and you overlook the fact that successive administrations have always done this. They have to.
You have forgotten to take credit for expanding the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane that Labour brought in during Covid. Oops, perhaps that’s because you subsequently voted to have it dismantled.
All in all, Labour have been running this city for 80% of the past decade, and the brief interlude of Greens only came about because Labour imploded and collapsed, and asked the Greens to take over. So while you rant and rave about the Greens, you overlook the fact that they effectively rescued you when you yourselves keeled over and couldn’t hack it.
The Hollingdean MRF had to be retrofitted to handle mixed plastics. That upgrade, completed under Labour, is what made this expansion possible. The Greens were in office for years and did not progress it.
On food waste: putting forward a motion 20 years ago is not the same as delivering a service, especially when it lacked a delivery plan or funding. When the Greens were in power, they failed to act. In contrast, Labour budgeted £1.2 million and launched the rollout ahead of the national deadline. The council was not required to do it now, but chose to. That is a good thing, surely?
On housing retrofit: the Greens talked about it. Labour created a structured plan, began applying for national funding, and started delivery. Continuity is welcome, but credit belongs with those who implement, not just those who mention.
Yes, councils must legally pass a balanced budget. But doing so without deep cuts to climate programmes or large council tax increases is a political choice. Labour did that. The Greens, frankly, struggled in the very area where people expect them to lead.
It is also odd to criticise Labour for listening to public feedback on Old Shoreham Road, while accusing them elsewhere of not listening. That is not a consistent position.
I do not have a quarrel with Green values. In many cases, I think the intent is solid. But intent does not collect bins, upgrade facilities, or roll out services. Delivery matters. And on these issues, it is Labour who got it done. The Greens had years to act on pots, trays, food waste, collection reform, and housing retrofit. They did not. Labour is doing it. Respectfully, “We thought of it first” is not a credible defence when the work was never done.
The new legislation forcing councils to expand recycling was passed in 2021 under the last Conservative government, so the Labour government can’t even take credit for it nationally.
It’s a fair point. But the current Labour government could have reversed or delayed implementation if it disagreed with the policy. It didn’t. Not everything introduced by the Conservatives is automatically wrong, and it would be disingenuous to claim otherwise. I often disagree with Cllr Lyons on here, but I’ll readily acknowledge he deals well with residents’ issues in his ward, for example. That said, credit belongs to those who deliver policies effectively, not just those who legislate them.
Losing control of government in one of the worst defeats in recent history doesn’t exactly demonstrate delivery; it suggests a failure to convince, implement, or lead.
It’s a shame that the council haven’t advertised this change more prominently – It was only because of this article that I became aware of it.
Plus I really hope that they’ve informed cityclean staff in case they won’t empty the bins because they’ve got “prohibited” items in them. They once refused to empty a neighbour’s bottle box as some passerby had chucked an empty fag packet in it…