News / bristol city council
Black bin collection could become monthly in UK first
Black bin collection could become monthly in Bristol, making it the first city in the UK to do so.
Reduction in black bin collection is one of a number of new measures set to come into practice by the end of 2025 as part of a consultation looking at reforming waste management in the city.
Bristol City Council is hoping that the consultation will be an opportunity to systematically reform waste management for the first time in more than 13 years.
is needed now More than ever
The proposals in the consultation outline a number of aims in order to increase recycling rates.
Bristol has the highest rate of recycling among core cities in the UK and has led the leaderboard for several consecutive years, currently recycling at a rate of 45 per cent.
However, that is still a decrease on pre-pandemic numbers from 47.4 per cent in 2018 and 2019.
Further to that, as part of wider targets the council is hoping to reach the national recycling target of 65 per cent by 2035.
Bristol has the highest recycling rate of core cities in the UK – image: Bristol City Council
In a renewed attempt to drive the rate back up, the council has outlined a proposal to reduce black bin collection from every fortnight, to every three to four weeks.
The proposal they believe will encourage positive behavioural change that could lead to cuts on carbon and costs.
Council analysis, suggests that around 40 per cent of the average black waste bin could be recycled easily and that the reduction in black bin collection would encourage residents to segregate their waste more effectively.
Food waste has been highlighted as a specific area of disposal that could be tackled better.
In their analysis they have said on average 50 per cent of households currently don’t recycle food waste and that 45 per cent of all discarded food is not even taken out of the packaging.
With the average resident wasting £700 of food per year.
Council analysis suggest that reducing black bin collection would encourage residents to sort through their waste more thoroughly and dispose of their waste in a more sustainable way, leading to cost cuts and carbon reduction – image: Bristol City Council
In reducing costs the council is hoping to reinvest in better recycling collection fleet, review and invest in recycling containers, ensure all households have access to recycling service and improve online services and potential for proactive notifications.
Several significant changes are driving the overhaul. The cost of waste treatment has grown significantly due to inflation. In the last five years costs increased by around £4m
The financial pressure is also compounded by the the potential introduction of a carbon tax on all waste that is incinerated by councils across the UK.
Placing additional pressure on the rest of waste, recycling and street scene service. With £1.3m worth of service reductions already being implemented in 2023/24 to mitigate this inflation.
On top of that, Bristol Waste has been struggling with the quantity of cardboard that has increased since the pandemic, with the number of online orders growing and becoming more frequent.
So, while most of the recycling collected in Bristol is sent for reprocessing within the UK, cardboard is exported to the EU where there is more reprocessing capacity.
Councillor Martin Fodor, chair of the environment policy committee, was keen to emphasise that the council intends to keep waste disposal within the city limits to avoid using “companies who are paid to get rid of rubbish that ends up abroad in fields”.
In sorting waste at the source the council could maximise the value of selling on plastics and help fund the service.
Emphasis is placed on residents to correctly and more effectively sort through their waste at the source – photo: Karen Johnson
Heavy emphasis has been placed on how residents sort their waste and improving the street scene which has been the topic of consistent criticism from residents.
Fodor said: “We need to improve our street scene. We need options that work at different types of homes and different streets, flats and people living above shops and so on.”
However, when asked about tackling waste and flytipping seen at mini recycling centres, commonly used for high rise flats, its unlikely they would see any change to the frequency of collections.
With a Bristol Waste representative adding that there would be more focus aimed at informing and changing attitudes towards better disposal as collective disposal is “a lot more challenging.”
The consultation is now open on the council website until midnight on Monday, March 10 and will go to a cross-party working group for a review.
Main photo: Karen Johnson
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