Recycling, refuse & street cleaning

Last updated Tuesday 21 May

The refuse, recycling and street cleansing service is still subject to severe disruption as a result of a dispute between the work force and the council about allowances.  We know that many residents have had one or more refuse and/or recycling collections missed and we apologise for the impact this is having.

The on-going disruption is the result of a dispute on proposed changes to allowances.  The allowances that the council pays to employees are not consistent across the council and the proposals seek to address this. The changes are not about making savings, however under the proposals employees in the street cleansing, refuse and recycling service will see a reduction in their pay. 

The dispute started with two days of unofficial industrial action on 8 and 9 May when no services were running. Since then crews have been working on their scheduled days but collections are not back on schedule because of the significant back log of waste and the ongoing dispute. The dispute is resulting in many crews not collecting extra beside bins, many roads being missed and a much higher number of collection vehicles having problems than normal which means they can’t be used. This is a very difficult time and we are speaking to our employees and the unions on a daily basis to try to calm the situation and get the service working as it should.

To try and minimise the impact of the dispute we have been sending out extra crews with agency staff and hired vehicles, but despite these efforts many areas of the city are still behind on collections. We are also hiring in vehicles to replace some of our own vehicles which are off the road. 

At this stage we do not know when we will be able to bring the service back on schedule.

Because of the on-going disruption, we are unable to deal with individual reports of missed collections. If your refuse and recycling has been missed, please put it out for collection on your next scheduled collection day. You can check your scheduled collection day below. Some crews may also not collect waste that does not fit in your bin or boxes.

If you are able to you can take your rubbish and recycling to one of our recycling centres on Wilsons Avenue, in Brighton or Old Shoreham Road, in Hove. Recycling will need to be separated at the recycling centres. Alternatively you can wait for your next scheduled collection.

Our customer service team is unable to provide you with more information over the phone.  We are regularly updating this page with the latest service information.

We apologise for the on-going disruption to your service.