Recycling rate in Brighton and Hove drops to 25 per cent

The recycling rate in Brighton and Hove has dropped to 25 per cent.

The fall is detailed in a Brighton and Hove City Council report which looks at ways to tackle the issue.

The council faces the prospect of financial penalties if it fails to raise recycling rates.

One idea is to introduce an incentive scheme, with increases in recycling rates rewarded with grants to community groups.

The proposed incentive scheme involves setting up a community fund where money is added as recycling rates rise.

The council is considering adding £15 to the fund for every extra tonne of recycling collected.

Estimates suggest that a citywide increase of just 1 per cent would add £16,000 to the community fund while saving the council about £43,000.

At the end of each year community groups would be invited to bid for grants from the fund, which would be administered by the Sussex Community Foundation.

The council is proposing that half the funds should be available for small grants of up to £1,000 and the rest for larger grants of up to £5,000.

At 25 per cent, recycling rates in Brighton and Hove have dropped slightly over the past two years.

The council said:”If all residents recycled their paper, card, plastic bottles, cans and glass, rates could increase to around 35 per cent.

“An increase of just 5 per cent could also save the council around £293,000 a year.”

Labour’s environment spokesman Councillor Gill Mitchell said: “However hard the Greens try to put a spin on this, they cannot get away from the fact that recycling rates have plummeted since they took office in 2011.”

She said that in 2008 the rate had been nearer 30 per cent.

Councillor Mitchell was the Labour administration’s cabinet member for the environment until the Conservatives too office in May 2007. The Greens took over in 2011.

The proposed incentive scheme will be considered by the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee next Tuesday (29 April).

It is one of a number of measures being considered by the council to deal with falling recycling rates in Brighton and Hove.

The council also hopes that the introduction of more communal recycling bins in central parts of Brighton and Hove will have a significant impact on recycling rates.

Councillor Ollie Sykes, deputy chairman of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “There is no doubt that recycling rates in the city have faltered over the years but there is also huge potential in the city for improvement.

“The proposed incentive scheme would see communities reaping the benefits of their efforts and, when combined with the introduction of communal recycling bins, could well see recycling rates soar.”

If agreed by the committee, the scheme could be introduced with immediate effect and run for a trial period of two years.

To read the committee report on the proposals, click here.

http://present.brighton-hove.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=823&MId=4792&Ver=4