Under the city council proposals, the £135,000 trial would assess the impact of switching from 50-litre black recycling boxes to 240-litre wheeled bins for collections of paper, cards, cans and plastic bottles.
At present, the council operates a commingled recycling service with a separate box for glass that would be retained under the six month pilot scheme.
According to a report due to be presented before the council’s environmental, transport and sustainability committee next week (July 7), the bins – costing £24 including delivery – would boost residents’ recycling capacity, help keep paper and card dry, and reduce manual lifting for Cityclean staff.
However, the report also notes that some streets in Brighton may not benefit from wheeled bins due to limited storage space.
And, there is a potential risk that quality of recycling could be reduced – with collection crews unable to spot contamination as readily. The council has proposed spending as much as £26,000 of the trial money on communication materials and stickers to inform residents what can be recycled.
Funding for the trial meanwhile will be issued from corporate reserves over two financial years, with repayments made via any savings generated from increased recycling as a result of the trial – and later via income generated by textile recycling and commercial waste schemes.
Savings
The report concludes that if successful after six months, an assessment and further audit will be made as to whether the bins result in a net saving to the council before a city-wide roll out is considered.
It is hoped that by introducing the wheeled bins, the council can improve its recycling rate which has remained consistently poor over the past decade. In 2013/14, the local authority’s recycling performance stood at 25% – below the percentage achieved in 2006/07.
If approved at the committee meeting next week, the scheme will be the first waste initiative spearheaded by a Labour-run council in Brighton in more than five years – albeit with minority control – after making gains from the Green Party in the local elections last month (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Greens had been struggling to maintain their reputation following a number of bin strikes that caused disruption to collections across the city – a problem Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion suggested was a ‘hangover’ of the last Labour administration (see letsrecycle.com story).
GMB
Mark Turner, branch secretary for the GMB trade union that organised the Brighton strikes, told letsrecycle.com the council would need a ‘more radical’ proposal if it hoped to bolster the recycling rate.
He said: “They [the council] need to be more radical. By doing what they are proposing to do there’s more contamination and so the value they’re going to get for the recycling comes into question.
“Cityclean already use slave bins so to say this will reduce manual handling is a bit of a red herring. We need weekly recycling collections and more enforcement. But as Labour has no overall control I think they are being politically cautious.”
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