More recycling, less waste – exploring a future collection model

This year, the council has made substantial improvements to the waste collection service, having invested in equipment, vehicles and a new, digital system that enables improved operational management and means residents can now track their collections in real time.

New materials have been added to recycling collections, and the rollout of weekly food waste collections continues. Consequently, the amount of waste in residents’ bins is falling, and so the council is considering exploring options to switch to fortnightly collections for kerbside refuse to encourage greater uptake of recycling and improve performance.

Over the last two years the council has made significant progress in improving the performance of the service.

Each week, the service collects more than 154,000 bins and caddies across the city. Crews now routinely collect around 99% of planned collections.

Work continues to drive missed collections down to zero and, as part of the move to greater transparency, we will soon report our collection performance weekly on our website.

With more residents recycling and composting, many bins are now only half full and it raises the question of whether it makes sense to continue to collect them every week.

In January, a report will be presented to Cabinet seeking agreement to begin modelling what a fortnightly kerbside waste collection service could look like.

If agreed, this will be an opportunity to explore options and gather evidence before a decision on whether or not to proceed is made. Any future changes would be subject to service modelling and redesign and further Cabinet approval in spring/summer 2026.

It’s important to stress that this proposal relates only to kerbside refuse collections. Weekly food waste collections will continue, and there will be no changes to recycling, communal bins or collections for flats.

Brighton & Hove is not alone in considering a switch to alternate weekly collections. Fewer than 20% of local authorities still offer weekly waste collection services, with the trend moving towards less frequent collections. Currently around 80% offer a fortnightly service or even less frequent, 3-weekly collections.

Councillor Tim Rowkins, Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, said: “We’ve made huge strides in modernising and improving the reliability of the service. Crucially, we are now seeing more and more waste moving from the refuse bin into recycling.

“As bins become emptier, we need to look at whether our current system is the most efficient and sustainable, and ask ourselves – can we justify collecting half-empty bins every week?

“Even prior to the major expansion of our recycling, we have been an outlier, with the vast majority of other councils having moved away from weekly collections some time ago.

“We know some residents will find the idea of this potential change difficult. I want to reassure them that for now, this is about exploring possibilities, not making any final decisions, and we’ll work closely with staff and residents every step of the way.

“I want to say a huge thank-you to our crews, who not only do an amazing job in all weathers but have also played a major role in transforming the service for our residents.”