Brighton and Hove faces wheelie bin shortage

Brighton and Hove is facing a wheelie bin shortage with the next consignment not due to arrive until October.

People are being advised to double bag rubbish if they don’t have a bin.

Brighton and Hove City Council said yesterday (Thursday 8 August): “Residents may experience a delay when ordering wheelie bins over the next couple of months.

“This is due to a national shortage of wheelie bins in the UK.

“The national shortage is the result of £250 million of UK government funding for local councils to improve waste services.

“As part of these improvements many councils have ordered extra wheelie bins of all sizes.

“We expect our next delivery in October and will wash and reuse stock as much as possible.

“If you have no wheelie bin or require a larger wheelie bin, please double bag rubbish and leave it out on your day of collection.

“There are no delays to recycling box orders and our current delivery time is 10 working days.”

The council added that juice cartons, small electrical items, textiles, shoes and more could be left at recycling points across the city.

Most of Britain’s wheelie bins are made in Germany where the government has recently said that every home should have its own bin for paper recycling. This has kept production lines busy.

In addition a number of countries have been stepping up their recycling programmes, particularly in Eastern Europe, spurring demand for bins.

In Brighton and Hove there have been a number of incidents of wheelie bins being stolen, vandalised and set on fire.

Early yesterday morning East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service sent a crew from Preston Circus to deal with a wheelie bin fire.

The bin had been set alight in Wild Park, off Lewes Road, in Moulsecoomb, between 1am and 2am. It was completely destroyed.

Anyone with any information about the fire is asked to contact Sussex Police on 101.