A move from weekly to fortnightly bin collections is on the way in Brighton and Hove \u2013 but not just yet.<\/p>\n
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins said that the council\u2019s rubbish and recycling service was improving but there was still not enough \u201cresilience for when things are not going to plan\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX<\/p>\n
Councillor Rowkins made his comments at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council\u2019s cabinet yesterday (Thursday 16 July).<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s cabinet member for environmental services and net zero said that the \u201cunprecedented\u201d record-breaking high temperatures last month had affected collections.<\/p>\n
Rounds were cut short, he said, to ensure the crews, who have to wear specific personal protective equipment, were not working during the hottest part of the day.<\/p>\n
And older vehicles had mechanical problems, including overheating hydraulics.<\/p>\n
Councillor Rowkins, one of the council\u2019s two deputy leaders, said: \u201cThat created a very significant backlog and it took too long to recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is obviously a very unusual example but it illustrates the point. We need to provide confidence to residents that when collections are missed, we can catch up in a reasonable timeframe.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecifically, we need to be able to assure residents that missed collections on a fortnightly regime will not mean a whole month between collections.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that the proposals before the cabinet would add greater resilience to collections, including more crews on catch-up rounds, a management focus on operations and more cover for the workshop in the evenings.<\/p>\n
Fellow Labour councillor Jacob Allen said that he had told his residents in Woodingdean that he was enthusiastic about the prospect of a \u00a31.3 million investment to improve services.<\/p>\n
Councillor Allen, the council\u2019s cabinet member for customer services, the public realm and local government, said: \u201cA significant portion of my ward has been getting a raw deal since early June and I\u2019m the front man.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople say to me, \u2018it can\u2019t carry on.\u2019 And I agree with them. Then they say, \u2018what are you going to do about it?\u2019 And I say, \u2018Councillor Rowkins is our top man. He\u2019s on the ball and he\u2019s going to improve the service.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The other deputy leader of the council, Jacob Taylor, said that people in his ward, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, had raised rubbish and recycling bin collections at a public meeting.<\/p>\n
He said that during the 2023 local elections, the topic was near the top of the list of issues that needed to be tackled.<\/p>\n
The Labour councillor said that missed collections were an issue for a whole area, adding: \u201cI am very supportive of the extra investment that Councillor Rowkins is proposing because we\u2019ve got to get this service right.<\/p>\n
11XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to send a message to the residents of the city. This remains a top priority \u2013 getting a service that you deserve and that you pay for through your council tax.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councillor Taylor said that he was pleased to hear that fortnightly collections would not go ahead until the service was ready and people were habitually using the new food waste recycling service.<\/p>\n
Labour councillor Joy Robinson, who represents Central Hove ward, said that she was pleased to note that no changes were planned for areas with communal bins.<\/p>\n
Councillor Rowkins said that work was under way to improve communal bin services, with \u201ca good chance\u201d in some areas, as yet unnamed, that collections could become more frequent than the current daily emptying.<\/p>\n
11XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX<\/p>\n
The \u00a31.3 million investment is due to be spent hiring vehicles and recruiting 17 extra staff including mechanics and a team to remove \u201cside waste\u201d \u2013 overspill rubbish left beside or on top of bins.<\/p>\n
A \u201cwaste composition survey\u201d earlier this year found that 45 per cent of rubbish \u2013 or 2.36kg per household a week \u2013 could be recycled. Almost 30 per cent was food waste and 15 per cent counted as mixed recycling.<\/p>\n
The council has been collecting more than 100 tonnes of food waste a week but almost half of the material currently placed in general rubbish bins could be recycled or put into food waste collections, the council said.<\/p>\n
\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A move from weekly to fortnightly bin collections is on the way in Brighton and Hove \u2013 but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-696298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}