Brighton & Hove Council's Reply

Following my previous post about Brighton and Hove's recycling issues, and after putting the matter to the council, I received the following reply from Tim Rowkins, Labour Hanover & Elm Grove ward councillor and council lead for the environment:

“We’re working hard to improve the city’s recycling rates, which have been too low for too long. It is a top priority for us. 

There has been the myth that the reason we can’t recycle more items is because of the contract with Veolia. This is not the case. The primary obstacle to accepting more items is the size and configuration of our Materials Recovery Facility, and we are working on plans to address this.

One of the key issues we are working on at the moment is the high level of contamination – items placed in recycling bins that cannot currently be recycled. Common items that should not go in with recycling include plastic pots, tubs and trays, food and drink cartons such as Tetrapaks and soft plastics like carrier bags and bread packaging.

We will soon be introducing a food waste collection service. Once this starts it will greatly increase the overall tonnage of materials we recycle.

We are also making plans to be able to accept materials such as plastic tubs and trays that we don’t currently recycle. We are currently developing new guidance to improve public awareness of what can be recycled and what can’t.

We can currently collect paper and cardboard, cans, tins and aerosols, and all plastic bottles, including shampoo bottles. We also collect glass bottles and jars separately and recently added metal lids to glass collections. Please wash the glass bottle or jar and replace the lid.

We have also recently agreed the rollout of 54 new bins for food and drink cartons at our recycling points, and will shortly be adding 21 new bins for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). These are all materials we know will actually be recycled – not sent to landfill or sent abroad.”

Given Brighton Pavillion Green MP Caroline Lucas' previous comments blaming the Veolia contract for recycling restrictions, I'm going to reach out to her for comment.

I'll also start looking into the 'Materials Recovery Facility' to establish who owns it, and hopefully find out a little more about what steps the council are taking to deal with the aforementioned size and configuration issues.