Around 60,000 households across Brighton & Hove could soon be offered recycling wheelie bins, as the council looks to expand its successful collection scheme.
Members of the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee are being asked to give the go ahead for an extension of the wheelie bin recycling trial which has seen recycling rates increase by 4%.
The trial, launched in Hangleton and South Portslade, in November last year saw recycling wheelie bins delivered to 4,000 households in 80 streets.
Households received fortnightly recycling collections and amounts of recycling were recorded over 24 weeks.
Figures showed that, on average, households recycled around 1.1 kg more waste per collection. The amount of general household waste collected also decreased by an average of 1.2kg per household. More than 95% of residents taking part in the trial told the council that using wheelie bins made it easier to recycle.
During the trial, council officers received dozens of inquiries from residents living in other areas of the city, asking for recycling wheelie bins to be introduced in their areas.
At a meeting on October 11,councillors will be asked to agree to make the scheme available to all households with room to store a wheelie bin - around 60,000 homes across the city.
If agreed, residents will be issued with 240 litre wheelie bins (larger than the 140 litre standard issue wheelie bin for refuse collection and equivalent for five black boxes) for recycling along with a box for glass. Any properties which are unable to store a wheelie bin on their property can continue to have their recycling collected in boxes. The collection frequency will remain the same.
It is estimated that the scheme will cost around £1.1 million. It will need to be approved by the council’s Policy, Resource and Growth Committee in December.
Environment Councillor Gill Mitchell said: “Results from the recycling wheelie bin trial have been really encouraging as residents have clearly enjoyed the opportunity to recycle much more of their household waste.
“We know that there is a strong demand for recycling wheelie bins from residents in other areas of the city so I am pleased that we are now in a position to consider extending the service to many more households.
“This is a major step towards our commitment to provide a more ‘tailor made’ recycling service for all our residents.”