Public recycling points for cartons and electrical waste are to be set up across Brighton and Hove after councillors backed the move.
They reached their decision after hearing that, last year, almost a tonne and a half of cartons contaminated household recycling bins in the area.
Cartons such as Tetra Pak are among the items that cannot be placed in domestic recycling bins although they can be disposed of at 30 of the existing community recycling sites.
And now Brighton and Hove City Council is to add more containers for cartons and electrical waste at dozens of community recycling sites.
The decision was made at a meeting of the council’s City Environment, South Downs and the Sea Committee at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Tuesday 14 November).
More than 54 extra receptacles would be able to take cartons while 21 other containers would take waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
The council currently has just two WEEE containers at community recycling sites, councillors were told. Others were withdrawn because they had been vandalised or people stole items left for recycling.
The new WEEE recycling bins are designed to reduce theft and have been used successfully by another council, the committee was told.
A report to councillors said that providing more recycling points for electrical waste would reduce the risk of fire from lithium batteries which has been a problem for a while.
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins, who chairs the committee, and his deputy, fellow Labour councillor Theresa Fowler, visited the electronics recycling company Light Brothers, in Lewes, to see the process.
Councillor Fowler said: “I’m really pleased about the WEEE bins. It was really exciting to see what is going to happen to all the electrical items. I’m really excited that more of this stuff is going to be recycled.”
She said that people in her ward, Hollingdean and Fiveways, had asked her for carton recycling and would be pleased to learn that new containers were due to be brought in soon.
Green councillor Kerry Pickett said that there had been no public consultation about locations and that people had shared their concerns.
Councillor Pickett said: “There have been issues with people doing things behind bins that they really shouldn’t be doing.
“If you are ‘listening Labour’ as you claim, then you would agree to have a consultation with the residents on this issue.”
At the meeting yesterday, councillors were told that new containers would not be sited in Crown Street, off Western Road, Brighton, because of anti-social behaviour.
Are the WEEE bins going to have slots large enough to get more than a mobile phone through? No chance of recycling a toaster or kettle using the bins and not everyone can get to a recycling depot or take it to a shop for recycling.
What a ridiculous waste of money
The streets are riddled with bin as it is.
WEEE containers were withdrawn because people were stealing the items left for recycling. Am I missing something here? I would have thought people taking the items, presumably for use, was recycling?
Re Tetra Pak … Why not just sort them out of the normal recycling? Do we really need separate bins?
Tetrapaks are awful to recycle.