Bristol Greens Rule Out Support for Four-Weekly Bin Collections 

• “You spoke, we listened’ say the Greens on Bristol City Council as Greens rule out their support for four-weekly black bin collections
• Full results of a consultation, which closed yesterday, on Bristol’s waste and recycling services will be presented to a cross-party group to decide on any changes.
• Greens reiterate that Bristol’s falling recycling rate must improve to meet government targets.

Following the closure of Bristol City Council’s consultation on improving the waste and recycling service in Bristol, the Green Party has ruled out supporting four-weekly black bin collections in Bristol.

Cllr Martin Fodor, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee, said, “ The four-weekly option was put in the consultation as an outlier for modelling purposes and I made clear it was always unlikely to go ahead. And so based on what we’ve heard and the strength of feeling that this has generated across the city, the Greens will not be supporting any proposals put forward to move to four-weekly collections at this time.”

“The full results of the consultation will be presented to a cross-party group to decide on any changes to our waste and recycling services.

“I would like to thank everyone who made the time to make their voice heard. The Greens aim to be as collaborative and transparent in our decision making as possible. While other parties consult on pre-made decisions, the views of Bristol will always be taken into account under this administration.”

The Greens have previously pledged to increase Bristol’s recycling rate. They have said that Bristol’s recycling rate started to decrease under the previous administration and is now at about 45%. This needs to increase to 65% by 2035 to be in line with the Government’s ‘Resource and Waste Strategy’.

On top of this, the Greens have said that disposing of Bristol’s waste costs the city money, and recycling makes money to go back into public services.

In a blog on the council website, Deputy Leader of the Council Heather Mack said that in 2024, the recycling collected by Bristol waste earned the city £4.5 million in revenue, while disposing of it would have cost the city £8.3 million to process.

Cllr James Crawford, who also sits on the Environment and Sustainability committee, said, “There are many changes that we need to make as a city to improve our recycling rate. Larger recycling containers, better information on recycling, more consistent facilities and services in blocks and shared dwellings, and collection of soft plastic recycling are all things we can do.

“I look forward to seeing the full results of the consultation and working cross-party on what measures we can take to improve recycling for Bristol.”

Notes to editors:

• This is a Green Party political statement. No decisions regarding changes to the frequency of waste collections have been made as this is the responsibility of the cross-party Environment and Sustainability Committee