Bristol Greens ask for residents’ views as they pledge to improve recycling across the city 

• The Greens on Bristol City Council have reinforced that they will listen to the results of a public consultation to improve recycling and waste across the city
• Greens say Bristol’s falling recycling rate must improve to meet government targets and to save taxpayer money
• Potential improvements include larger recycling containers, better information on recycling, more consistent facilities and services in blocks and shared dwellings, collection of soft plastic recycling

In January, Bristol City Council launched a consultation to collect public opinion in order to improve recycling rates and the reliability of the service.

Cllr Martin Fodor, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee, said; “When we started leading Bristol City council, we promised voters that we wanted to increase our rates of recycling and reuse – key Green values.

“We also promised to be more collaborative and transparent in our decision making.

“Our consultation on waste and recycling is the first step in fulfilling both promises and has already had a record number of responses. As an administration, we are committed to putting a range of options on the table for the people of Bristol to have their say in all our consultations and to be transparent about this.”

Bristol’s recycling rate started to decrease under the previous administration and is now about 45%. The Greens say this must improve to be in line with the Government’s ‘Resource and Waste Strategy’, which aims for at least 65% of waste to be recycled by 2035.

Costs of waste disposal are also going to massively increase in the coming years as a Government carbon tax on waste is introduced. The Greens say instead of trying to fund this extra costs the most viable way to make the services fit for the future is to earn money from increased recycling. This money can be reinvested in improving how and what Bristol recycles as well as increased reliability of collections.

Cllr Fodor, “We do have to increase our recycling rate as a city. A key reason for this is that Bristol currently recycles 45% of its waste and this has been falling. And while we believe that recycling more is essential, the government also has a target of 65% recycling by 2035, which we must meet.

“On top of this, in the next few years the Government will be introducing a carbon tax on our waste, which will put strain on already struggling council finances.

“The good news is that while disposing of waste costs taxpayers’ money, our recycled materials are sold to go back on the market across the UK, and this money can be reinvested in further improving the service, street cleansing and tackling fly-tipping.

“Analysis shows that over 40% of what’s in Bristol’s black bins can be recycled, and a lot of this is food waste. So there is a lot of room to improve.

“I want to see better separation of materials, larger recycling containers, better information on recycling, more consistent facilities and services in blocks and shared dwellings, and beginning to recycle soft plastics.

“But these are only ideas, and we want to hear your feedback. By doing this, I am confident that we will be able to improve our recycling rate, together.”

According to data from the council, the move from weekly to fortnightly bin collections in Bristol has been the only significant measure to improve recycling rates in the last 20 years.

Cllr Fodor continued, “One potential move forward is to decrease the frequency of waste collections. This has shown to have worked for more and more local authorities including our neighbours in South Gloucestershire and North Somerset, and the move to fortnightly collections has been one of the only things in Bristol to boost recycling rates in the last 20 years.”

Once the consultation finishes on the 10th of March, a task and finish group of the Environment and Sustainability Committee will consider the responses and put forward a recommendation as to how to improve recycling in Bristol going forward.”