Booking system to use Bristol’s tips could be introduced over ‘drastic’ fall in recycling rates

Council officers say the move could bring down long queues
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Residents could soon have to book to visit Bristol’s tips as council bosses try to stop a “drastic” fall in the city’s recycling rates.

The new system would replace the current regime, introduced during the pandemic to help social distancing and manage queues, where residents can only enter the recycling centres on certain days depending on whether their registration plate ends in an odd or even number.

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The plan to allocate specific slots for trips was revealed at a Bristol City Council meeting, where members grilled officers about a decline in the proportion of rubbish sent for reuse, recycling and composting.

Councillors heard the authority’s target is for 50 per cent of household waste to avoid landfill but the figure has fallen steadily from 45 per cent in 2020/21 and is now well short of the goal at 42 per cent.

The move would see the current regime on registration plates for certain days at tips replacedThe move would see the current regime on registration plates for certain days at tips replaced
The move would see the current regime on registration plates for certain days at tips replaced

Communities scrutiny commission members were told this was down to a combination of factors all caused by the pandemic – the suspension of kerbside garden waste collections last summer, closing and then restricting access to tips, and high volumes of black bin rubbish from home-working.

Council officer Ken Lawson told the meeting they would review access to recycling centres and were considering replacing the car-plate entry requirement with a booking system, which other neighbouring authorities had introduced successfully.

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“That would enable us to offer a potentially improved service to residents,” he said, referring to current long queues.

Knowle Community Party Cllr Gary Hopkins said the explanation given in a report to members that recycling rates had gone down because of home-working made “no sense”.

“If there were more people working from home, you would expect the total waste to go up from home collections, but it doesn’t follow that people would be less assiduous about recycling, in fact they should be more so because they would have more time if they’re not travelling to work,” he said.

“So we need a detailed explanation why that’s happening because it’s deeply disappointing.

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“This authority got up to 50 per cent not that many years ago and it has slipped back quite drastically. It’s costing us money and it’s costing the planet.”

The officer replied: “I share Cllr Hopkins’ concerns. I know the administration does.

“There are three factors at play – over the last two years we had to suspend garden waste collection services for different reasons and that will have impacted on the amount of garden waste collected and the recycling rate.

“We closed the recycling centres and also limited access during the Covid period because of social distancing, and they are net contributors to the recycling rate – they have a 60 to 65 per cent recycling rate.

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“The third factor is that residents are spending more of their time at home consuming more food – three meals a day instead of two if you’re working at home all days.

“We have seen recycling increase, but that is on a smaller tonnage than the increase in residual waste, so the net effect is that the increase in residual waste nullifies the increase in recycling.

“We are working with Bristol Waste and looking at behaviour change and undertaking some research to see whether it’s just that people are not recycling correctly or because they are spending more time at home and they realise they can generate more waste and fill their bin. There are unanswered questions.”

Mr Lawson said national recycling rates dropped three per cent last year, similar to Bristol.

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He said: “We still have a higher recycling rate than the other core cities who are the most comparable authorities to ourselves, so I hope that answers the question.”

Cllr Hopkins said: “It doesn’t, actually. If we’re going to analyse the successes and failures and work out how to put it right, we’ve got to have proper explanations as to what’s happening in the first place, and we haven’t got it.”

A report prepared ahead of the City Hall meeting on Monday, February 21, said: “Recycling continues to be negatively impacted by the exponential growth in kerbside refuse collected owing to trends in home-working.

“The suspension of green waste collections has reduced the tonnage of garden waste sent for composting and has also had an impact on the overall recycling rate.

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It is anticipated that next year the garden waste volumes will increase back to pre-Covid levels as long as collections are maintained.

“Analysis is being undertaken to understand why tonnage through the recycling centres has dropped.

“The biggest challenge is to address the behavioural change of generating more waste at home as this will continue to impact on Bristol City Council reaching its targets in the longer term.”

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