Residents 'wheelie' love their recycling bins

Residents taking part in a trial of recycling wheelie bins in Brighton & Hove have heralded the new scheme a success.

Comments from some of the residents have been included in a report to the next Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee. They show that the scheme has been very well received and is already helping to increase recycling in the city.

Residents describe the scheme as ‘fantastic’ and ‘a great improvement’ and have also commented on cleaner streets, and ease of use. Figures also illustrate that the wheelie bins can help to improve recycling rates in the city - each collection saw households recycling around 1.1kg more of their waste.

The council has also received letters from residents in other areas of the city asking for wheelie bins to be introduced in their wards.

The trial in Hangleton and South Portslade, was launched in November last year when wheelie bins were delivered to 3,900 households in 80 streets.

Households received fortnightly recycling collections and results were recorded over a 24 week period

Figures show that, on average, households recycled around 1.1 kg more waste per collection. The amount of household waste collected also decreased by an average of 1.2kg per household.

“This is exactly what we were hoping to see,” said Environment Councillor Gill Mitchell. “An increase in recycling alongside a decrease in residual waste, shows that residents are taking advantage of the opportunity to recycle much more of their household waste.”

Members of the council’s Environment. Transport and Sustainability Committee are now being asked to approve an extension of the trial until August. During this time, council officers will work with residents and community groups within the trial area to help them to make the most of their recycling bins and help them to reduce and reuse more of their household waste.

Councillors are also being asked to give the go ahead for officers to prepare a business case for a wider wheelie bin recycling scheme to be presented to the committee in October.

“We know that there is a strong demand for recycling wheelie bins from residents in other areas of the city and am pleased that we are now in a position to consider offering the service to many more households,” added Cllr Mitchell.  “This is a major step towards our commitment to provide a more ‘tailor made’ recycling service for all our residents.”