Fortnightly rubbish collections could be on the way as the council tries to drive up stubbornly low recycling rates which are among the worst in the country.
Currently, just over a quarter of rubbish is recycled while almost three-quarters is sent to be burnt in the incinerator at Newhaven.
A report to Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet said: “Recycling rates in the city hover around 26 per cent.
“This still leaves around 73 per cent of the city’s waste being sent for energy recovery, with less than 1 per cent of material not suited to recycling or energy recovery going to landfill.”
It said: “Brighton and Hove is an outlier in continuing weekly refuse collections. Currently, only 62 out of 317 English councils collect residual waste every week. More than 80 per cent of councils collect fortnightly or every three or four weeks.”
The report also said: “Alternate weekly collection with other simpler recycling measures should see recycling levels increase to around 40 per cent.”
More changes, some of them national, would provide a further boost, the report said, “opening the way for the city to achieve 65 per cent recycling levels over the next decade”.
This would be in line with the government’s 65 per cent target for recycling by 2035.
The report added: “All of the analysis of data … is likely to lead to evidence of reductions in residual waste and therefore supporting the potential introduction of alternative weekly collection for residual waste.”
It said that a Southampton University study found that switching to alternate weekly collections increased recycling rates by up to 9 per cent and reduced residual waste volumes by 13 per cent.
It also said: “This evidence has resulted in around 80 per cent of councils already operating with fortnightly collection of refuse, with particular success in areas where there is also a food waste collection.
“The global UK-based charity organisation, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), carried out national analysis which shows that councils with alternate weekly collections achieve recycling rates 5 to 10 percentage points higher than those with weekly refuse collections.
“A DEFRA-funded health impact assessment found no significant health risks associated with reduced collection frequencies, provided common-sense measures are taken.”
Brighton and Hove has already brought in weekly food waste collections, ahead of the March deadline set out by the government – one of a number of changes locally.
The cabinet report said: “Over the last 18 months significant progress has been made to improve the performance of the waste and recycling service.
“The expansion of materials accepted in mixed recycling and the introduction of weekly food waste collections mean that we are now seeing the volume of residual waste (refuse) fall. This reduction is expected to continue.
“Alongside these new services, the performance of the collection service has improved so that in most weeks around 99 per cent of the circa 194,000 (sometimes much higher) collections we make are achieved during the week. We continue the drive toward zero missed collections.
“Digital transformation in the service has seen the introduction of in-cab technology, allowing far more efficient planning and management of rounds, greater transparency and detailed real-time information available for customers on the website.”
Since the first food waste rounds started in September, the council has phased in every part of Brighton and Hove and collected 600 tonnes.
The council estimated that it could collect 5,057 tonnes of food waste a year city-wide, or 740 grams per household a week, adding that this would probably increase if general rubbish was collected fortnightly.
The council’s cabinet is expected to “explore and develop a proposal for a future model of delivery for waste collection services”.
The cabinet is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 2pm next Thursday (22 January). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.
I asked my local recycling bin men why I hadn’t seen them in over a month as everyone’s recycling bins were overflowing and they said the trucks are falling to bits and most of the time they struggle to get out of the depot in the morning due to that fact.
So maybe buy some bin trucks to collect the recycling…
Exactly the same where we live, don’t think the recycling team have collected since early December. The local communal bins are overflowing.
I’m not in support of pushing fortnightly collections right now.
Improving recycling rates is a goal once you have a settled and consistent collection service, which, as many would likely attest, is definitely not the case at the moment. Defra’s own guidance and consultations reflect this nuance. Over Christmas, my own experience has been that I’ve had to put recycling (minus food waste) into general waste for 3-4 weeks, because recycling has been overflowing. Demotivating, to say the least.
Can I pay my council tax every other month? Doubt it
It’s disgusting why don’t they half there council tax bill it’s bad enough they miss collections at least 4-6 times a year
Refuse collection costs £42m per year, 4.3% of the council’s £962m budget. This works out to be about £350 per household per year. But council tax only makes up 20% of the council budget, so if you didn’t pay for it, it would reduce your council tax by roughly £70 per year, in my case just over 3%. Good luck with getting your bins privately collected for £70 a year.
Crikey! Some knowledgeable sense being written about council tax and local government finance. Must be a first……..
The food recycling bins are just an excuse to go down to fortnightly bin collections.
“Since the first food waste rounds started in September, the council has phased in every part of Brighton and Hove” That’s a flat out lie. There is absolutely not food recycling in Upper Lewes Road or Viaduct Road – I walked past taped up communal food bins today; they aren’t in operation yet & we’ve not even been delivered the food caddies or sent any info yet.
I’m gagging to do food recycling – like my sister has been doing in Guildford for literally years. But don’t claim it’s universal, because that’s just BS, as it’s not likely to be fully operational for a while yet, possibly end of March. And as for the rest of the recycling: no wonder the rates are so low, as half the stuff couldn’t be recycled. All credit to them for finally expanding the range. But the reason rates have been rubbish, was because the recycling service was garbage.
“But the reason rates have been rubbish, was because the recycling service was garbage.”
I see what you did there. Nice.
Some excellent trash talk.
Gagging? Ok
“Since the first food waste rounds started in September, the council has phased in every part of Brighton and Hove” – not true; only taped up communal bins in upper Lewes Road or Viaduct Road; no caddies delivered or any info yet. I’m gagging to do food recycling – like my sister has in Guildford for literally years. Good to see the range of recycling increasing. But if recycling rates are rubbish, it because up until now, the recycling service has been garbage!
Council tax reduction?
No? Just another enshittification of a service we pay for then.
Maybe we should move to having a residents’ private rubbish collection service and cut the Council and Cityclean out of the process, deducting the cost from our Council Tax. The rubbish collection is already a joke and who trusts them to collect food recycling before it turns into an environmental health hazard? I intend to return my unwanted food recycling bin and I know many others who feel the same. It is just more street clutter and most of us don’t waste that much food. I’d sooner give it to the seagulls than Cityclean. At least they take it away immediately!
You won’t get a service for £30 a year, Tracy. Separate fleet running food waste; we have had them firstt, and honestly, not been a problem. Dry recycling has been overfilling, but food waste – like clockwork. Do you never have leftover bones? Finish your plate every time? What are you doing with your eggshells? Your orange peels? Don’t drink coffee or tea? Not even trying, honestly, just comes across as selfishly lazy.
In my experience, it is the student population who are more complicit in littering and not recycling. Whether this is down to laziness, convenience foods or lack of education or confusion on what to recycle, I cannot say.
That’s quite interesting, because I’d say it is a very different demographic in my area! Still, students in halls tend to be first years, right? And for many, it is their first time away from home. Certainly tracks with what you’re saying, Ann!
Students should be made to contribute something towards council tax as they have the right to vote in local elections. Why should it be free to them when they use council facilities? All they do is vote in a party , leave and leave the locals to suffer them, mainly that being the awful Green Party!
However, that overlooks a few realities, namely, students typically have little to no income, so they’d already be exempt from council tax. They benefit in the same way as other non-council-tax payers, like children, the unemployed, carers, and many pensioners. And if we are applying that principle consistently, then again, they wouldn’t be paying.
On voting, that’s a good thing. Democracy works best when participation is high, and denying them a voice because they’re transient or don’t pay taxes would undermine local representation, which is inherently unfair. The alternative, restricting voting to taxpayers, would be regressive and undemocratic.
A more constructive approach might be to explore how students can be better integrated into local community life. ❦
In my experience it’s the baby boomers who are the worst
Replies here seem to be of the view of why should we get half the number of collections. The article points to research suggesting that recycling rates increase if the frequency of collections is reduced. I’m curious as to why this would be – are people trying to avoid having overflowing bins? Or are they more aware of how much rubbish they’re producing?
The naunce in the research is that there’s a strong foundation of collection in place. As it stands, I would gently argue that it’s not quite there yet, and the council have not had time to embed the new technology and see if that has stabilised consistency.
Can we have a photo of cllr Muten smiling next to a communal food bin?
He has started grimacing in his photographs lately, I notice. Not a confidence-inspiring sign.
Like the entire Labour council he is completely out of his depth in his role and is likely to be highly stressed, and clueless about what to do hence the grimacing.
Isn’t he in charge of farking up traffic flow in the city centre with the VG3 ‘improvements’?
As the refuse collection is regularly missed in my street (currently by 4 weeks) a fortnightly collection would be a vast improvement.
I might feel more optimistic about this if I weren’t just coming off of skipped collections with no regard for the ’48 hours until we fix it’- that’s just nonsense, we waited three days after it skipped and then the website just shrugged and said ‘oh well, wait til the next one and cross your fingers.’
I want to believe, really, but right now it seems like the insane amount of council tax I pay is just getting me less and less.
If I read the article correctly, about 75% of rubbish goes to energy recovery leaving only about 1% going to landfill. Isn’t energy recovery a form of recycling, or is it considered bad for the environment? I don’t use the food waste collection as I subscribe to the garden waste collection (which keeps going up in cost) and don’t have meat waste to dispose of. I’m used to controlling portion size, so cook what I can eat and haven’t had a takeaway for over 6 years. Fortnightly collections wouldn’t be an issue, as I still have bin space after a month, but I would think there are many families who would have a problem. I would agree that the council needs to get the current system working properly before another change.
Energy recovery is certainly better than landfill, you’re absolutely right; but incineration isn’t good for the environment either – it’s a less bad option, if that makes sense?
Your comment on food waste makes me think of the difference between my partner and me. I’m more like you, portion control, don’t buy too much food that ends up going off, etc. Whilst my partner swings the other way. We’re never going to achieve perfection when it comes to good recycling habits as a city, but a pragmatic push might be what we need, with pragmatic caution and a good foundation.
Interesting
I think energy recovery from waste is probably better than sending it to landfill, since it doesn’t give off methane, and produces less CO2 than a gas turbine power station.
In our family of 4, we compost our green waste but still manage to produce a couple of caddies of food waste (bread, leftovers, bones, spoiled food etc.) a week. A fortnightly rubbish collection wouldn’t be a problem at all, since we’re only putting in about 3 swing bins’ worth a week. Since the food waste collections, the general rubbish is mostly plastic, which might make the incineration more efficient?
As of last year Brighton and Hove council’s share of the outstanding PFI loan to pay for the incinerator and Veolia facilities was still about £158 million that needs to be repaid still. The overall contract that Labour signed the city up to a few decades ago was over £1 billion and it has proven to be difficult to negotiate terms with Veolia to widen plastic recycling.
It is the case that the council has recently expanded the types of plastic it collects, but this has happened because national legislation passed under the last government (Environment Act 2021) means that ALL councils have to collect certain items by a deadline of March 2026, so BHCC has been forced to expand what they collect. The council has also been given millions of pounds by the government as new burdens funding and via the extended producer responsibility tax collected from manufacturers connected to the packaging they use.
Important residents ignore the spin from politicians on recycling rates and are aware of the terrible deal the city was signed up to years ago which has been prohibitive as far as increasing the volume of items that get recycled.
It’s obviously good if more gets recycled as a result of the national legislation forcing councils like Brighton to collect more items and ensure more types of materials are recycled, by any claims they make about their role in it all should be treated with caution by residents as it’s largely just spin and nonsense.
How many half a million pound EV bin lorries did they buy in the end plus the charging infrastructure? Its one scandal after another with BH and rubbish.
The council vehicles are falling to bits and a lot of the staff are agency workers who rotate in and out working for them.The staff don’t like the management or at least some of the managers. The morale is low in the crews ….also the recycling side of the collections is hamperd in my humble opinion by a center that is to small for the amount of recycling and struggling to keep up as it is…if the council wants to increase the the amount that is recycled perhaps it should consider moving it out of the town like most other cities to a site more suitable.
That tracks with the article the other day. Maybe waste management, alongside a regional depot, is something that should be moved to a regional level in devolution? What do you think?
What about just sending it all to Newhaven Energy Recovery Facility, along with the rest?
Incineration is a step better than landfill, but recycling is much better for the environment.
Remind me how much the Council paid for the ‘electric’ bin lorries
In my opinion it also has a lot to do with age, ability and outlook. I’ve been retired for more than 2 decades but my first thought if something breaks is “can I mend it?” As a former engineer (mechanical and electrical) the answer is often “Yes” by searching online for spare parts. It’s far cheaper too. The same goes for waste, I was brought up to view wasted food and water as almost the ultimate sin and old habits die hard. I’ve often got over the council’s missed collections by walking round to a local recycling point rather that let it build up at home – in other words, I help myself. It galls to pay so much council tax for a poor service, but I’d rather do something positive about it rather than brood as some people do.
Makes me think of local projects like Gladrags and Smarter Uniforms who are all about repairing clothing and extending their life spans.
Benjamin
In January 2026, several individuals named Benjamin have appeared in news and public discussions related to Brighton and Hove:
Community & Local Governance
Benjamin (Commenter): A regular and active contributor to the Brighton and Hove News comment sections. In mid-January 2026, he has been involved in debates regarding fortnightly rubbish collections, devolution decisions, and temporary housing records.
Benjamin Franks: A Conservative political figure who previously stood as a candidate in local by-elections, most recently for the South Portslade seat in January 2024. He has been vocal on local issues such as the redevelopment of the King Alfred Leisure Centre.
Oh, I remember him. I criticised him for following Tory attack lines rather than being his own person. Seems like that was to his detriment. https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2024/01/04/by-election-candidates-answer-your-questions-benjamin-franks-conservative/
This all about saving money for pensions.
Brighton recycling is a joke considering his ling we were a Green council.
Our recycling lung should ve full on! The fact that no plastic containers can be recycled is ludicrous – so much fruit, meat, vegetables etc come packed in plastic trays today that recycling those containers should be a priority.
We are lucky with our rubbish and recycling collections but so many areas around the city are neglected, fusgeaxwful especially as we have amongst the highest council tax charges in the country.
Wake up councillors and cityclean – it’s about time you did something about this!!
I believe they upgraded last year to include plastic pots, trays, and tubs in your mixed recycling; and, of course, bottles have been recyclable for a while, and plastic bags you can recycle at supermarkets. That accounts for a lot of common plastics‽
IF collections was STABLE and the council ACTUALLY put effort into collecting “missed” collections – it might work.
But collections are STILL unstable. And so far in the last 12 months we have had at least 1 collection missed per month – so that is roughly 12 missed collections – and only 1 “partial” re-collection after a missed collection. (Glass was collected next day).
But the bigger problem with all the collections is it BINDS you to your house. We now have different 3 collection days. (Bin, Green waste and food – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) – meaning someone has to make certain bins are out before each of those days for 6am – as you can’t put them out “ahead of time”. So if we move to slower collections – you risk NO collection for a month.
Problem with Food Waste bins – foxes have already figured out how to open the food bins. All the foxes around here now look well fed with shiny fur. But that also means increased vermin (rats, mice & seagulls) and they are having the time of their life.
No – less collections does not make any sense at all until collections are under control and re-collections works as they should.
Make ONE single collection day for ALL bin types.
My household is really good at recycling and yet we already struggle to overfill our bins on weekly collections- fortnightly will be horrifying! All of my neighbours have had bags piled up high