Survey Opens Over Fortnightly Bin Collections In Brighton

Brighton and Hove City council is preparing to switch from weekly bin rounds to fortnightly because, it said, food waste collections meant that people were putting less general rubbish in their wheelie bins.

A survey has gone up on the Brighton and Hove City Council website seeking feedback and input from the public.

It said: “We’re considering moving to less frequent collections for household rubbish so we’d like to understand how you use your recycling bins, how easy it is to recycle at home and what might help you recycle more confidently.”

The survey follows a decision taken by the council’s cabinet in January to start the process of reducing the weekly refuse collections to fortnightly. The frequency of communal bin collections is expected to remain unchanged.

It also follows an extension last year of the types of plastic collected by the council for recycling to include pots, tubs and trays.

More recently, in March, the communal bin areas in the centre of Brighton became the last to have food waste collections.

The introduction of food waste collections is the result of national government policy, aimed at further reducing the amount of rubbish going into people’s bins.

A report to the council’s cabinet meeting in January estimated that more than 5,000 tonnes of food waste a year could be collected city-wide – a weekly average of 740 grams per household.

The council’s survey said that, so far, 1,700 tonnes of food waste had been kept separate from general waste and turned into compost.

Labour councillor Tim Rowkins, the council’s cabinet member for environmental services and net zero, said in January that Brighton and Hove was one of just 62 councils out of 317 still collecting rubbish weekly.

He said that some councils had bin rounds for general waste as infrequently as every three or four weeks.

The survey asks residents if they recycle all they can and if they are confident that they know what can be recycled.

It also asks whether people are aware that they can recycle pots, tubs and trays and if they know how to dispose of food waste.

In addition, the survey asks how people can be helped to improve their recycling rates and how much rubbish is in their household bin each week now that there are more recycling options.

The More Recycling Less Waste survey is on the council’s website. It closes on Saturday 16 May.