Recycling Facilities To Increase In Brighton & Hove

Residents are about to see a big increase in recycling facilities across Brighton & Hove.

Fifty-four more recycling bins for food and drink cartons (such as Tetra Pak) will begin to be installed at recycling points this week. These cartons are often mistakenly placed in residents’ mixed recycling, but they will now be collected separately in order to be recycled.

Brighton & Hove City Council is introducing 21 waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) containers across the city.  

The new recycling bins will help residents to easily recycle items that might otherwise be disposed of as household waste.

The council has estimated that more than 2.6 tonnes of food cartons, and 2.1 tonnes of electrical items are placed in our refuse and recycling bins each year.

Councillor Tim Rowkins, Chair of the City Environment, South Downs & The Sea Committee, said:

“This is a significant expansion to the city’s recycling facilities – one of our biggest priorities.

“We know a lot of food and drink cartons are placed in our household recycling bins, which contaminate our mixed recycling collections. That can mean it all ends up as general waste. 

“These new bins will go a long way to fixing that problem. Please remember to keep those cartons clean and dry. It’s also important, as with any recycling, to place items in the bins loose. It might be tempting to gather them together in a plastic bag, but that bag will then contaminate the collection.

“I’m also really pleased to see huge growth in our electrical recycling facilities. Electrical items contain a lot of reusable materials and should never be thrown away, but until now, residents have had very few places to take them. 

“Discarded electricals are one of the fastest growing sources of waste and a big threat to the environment and human health.”

The introduction of the new recycling points was agreed by the City Environment, South Downs and The Sea committee in November. The rollout will be completed by late April / early May.

New carton recycling bins will be placed at 47 different locations, bringing the total to 68.

Food and drink cartons must be recycled separately due to the mixed materials they are made from and should never go in kerbside or communal recycling bins.

The bins should be used for

• milk and alternative milk cartons with caps  
• fruit juice with caps and straws
• crisp tubes (without lids)
• dough or pastry cardboard containers with metal ends
• soup, tomatoes and other food cartons
• other paper containers with metal ends such as gravy (without lids) 

All cartons should be kept clean, dry and loose.

Recycling electricals

Anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled if it can’t be reused or repaired.

The 21 new WEEE containers can accept items such as headphones, cables, children’s toys, consoles, electric toothbrushes, watches, as well as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, irons, toasters, and kettles. 

Seventy-five percent of the materials in old electrical devices can be recycled and turned into anything from life-saving equipment to children’s playgrounds.

The council asks that residents remove any batteries and lightbulbs.  Batteries should be taken to the Household Waste Recycling Sites or dropped off at one of many battery recycling points in shops and supermarkets across the city.