Brighton and Hove approves plans to add more public recycling points

In a recent session held on Tuesday, 14 November, the City Environment, South Downs & The Sea Committee met to discuss these proposals.

The plan proposed the installation of 55 additional recycling bins specifically designed for food and drink cartons like Tetra Pak, as well as 21 new waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) containers across various locations within the city.

The council currently has 87 recycling points across the area catering to items that cannot be collected through conventional kerbside or communal collections. These encompass textiles, cartons, and small electrical items. Moreover, there are  bins designated for cardboard, paper, plastic bottles, tins, cans, aerosols, and separate containers specifically for glass bottles and jars. These expanded facilities aim to accommodate items such as large cardboard boxes that cannot fit into regular recycling bins.

‘Priority’

Councillor Tim Rowkins, chair of the city environment, South Downs & the sea Committee, said: “Improving our recycling is a top priority. At our last committee meeting, we approved the addition of metal lids into our glass collections, and we’re now seeking to expand opportunities for recycling items that aren’t currently accepted in kerbside and communal collections.

“We often see food and drink cartons placed in household recycling, but these need to be collected and processed separately. Consequently, they contaminate mixed recycling collections and end up being treated as general waste. We’re introducing 55 new bins for these cartons at our recycling points around the city to enable many more of these items to be recycled.”

Options

The council says the initiative seeks to improve the number of recycling options available to residents, with 30 recycling points accepting cartons and two points facilitating the disposal of small electrical items out of the total 87 recycling points.

According to available data, approximately 2.68 tonnes of cartons and 2.16 tonnes of electrical items find their way into refuse and recycling bins annually.

The proposed expansion aims to mitigate the disposal of such recyclable items as household waste. Specifically, it plans to introduce 21 new containers dedicated to recycling small electrical items throughout the city, thereby elevating the total count to 23.

Each ward within Brighton & Hove will now host a designated recycling point for the safe disposal of laptops, mobile phones, kettles, hairdryers, and other similar small electrical items.