We have been working relentlessly to transform it into a modern, resident-focused operation that delivers for our city. We’re still on the journey, but I wanted to reflect on the progress we’ve made – progress made possible by the determined effort by every member of staff and underpinned by investment and innovation.
Gone are the days of operations managers gathering tatty old pieces of paper from the crews at the end of the day and manually cross-referencing them with other bits of paper in the back office. We now have a fully digital system in place across the service, with tablets in the vehicles linked directly to the control centre. Progress is tracked live by managers, who can move collections between rounds instantly if required. Any collections that are missed are automatically flagged for reallocation, massively reducing the need to residents to report them.
This technology has also enabled us to provide real time updates for residents, meaning we can all now see how our round is progressing and get confirmation when our collections have been completed. If a collection is missed, residents can now see what the issue was and when another attempt to collect will be made. We believe we are the first council in the country to provide this service.
We’ve been replacing old vehicles with a modern and increasingly electrified fleet – 13 fully electric HGV refuse vehicles so far, with a major upgrade of our charging infrastructure planned to enable further electrification. In the meantime, we have also purchased some brand-new diesel vehicles, because we understand that a modern, resilient fleet cannot wait until new infrastructure is in place.
And then there’s the recycling. I’d lost count of the number of times I’d been asked why, despite having had 2 Green-led councils, we couldn’t recycle plastics that were routinely collected in other local authorities. We introduced plastic pots, tubs and trays to our collections in 2025 – and imagine my astonishment to see the Greens calling on us not to do so! One Green councillor claimed that this new recycling provision would increase demand for packaging and requested that we “commit instead to a campaign that encourages residents to use less packaging”. Another asked “given the energy required to collect, separate, transport and re-process these low grade plastic materials, is it even sustainable to do so?”. Spoiler alert – the answer is yes! I’m waiting with bated breath to see if they include “end the recycling of plastics” in their 2027 local election manifesto.
One of Labour’s manifesto commitments in 2023 was the introduction of a weekly food waste collection service, and I’m pleased to say that 73,000 households in the city are now sending their peelings and scrapings off to be turned into compost, with the rest of the city coming in the new year.
Previously, more than a third of the waste in people’s bins was food waste. Combined with the plastics (which often take up a lot of space), we have moved a very significant portion of household waste out of the bins and into recycling and composting, meaning the amount of residual waste is falling substantially.
So, what about the reliability of the service? Well let’s see how that’s going. We now make more than 190,000 collections every week – refuse, recycling, food waste, garden and trade waste. Taking the month of November, the collection success rate was 99.9% in week 1, 98.8% in week 2, 99.4% in week 3 and 98% in week 4. That’s a monthly average of over 99%. Our target of course is 100%, but I’d say we’ve come a long way.
Ultimately, none of this would have been possible without the hard work of our crews. Not only do they get up before dawn, in all weathers, to do the essential work on which we all rely, they have also embraced these new ways of working – testing the new technology and providing crucial, real-world feedback to help iron out any creases, and helping us develop the specifications for new vehicles and equipment. I want to thank every one of them for what they do for our city and helping us to deliver a modern service of which we can be proud. We’re not just catching up – we’re now setting the standard for what a 21st-century waste service should look like.
Cllr Tim Rowkins, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Net Zero & Environmental Services, Brighton & Hove City Council