The council is preparing to collect rubbish every two weeks from July 2027. Its own survey found 44% of what goes in a Brighton rubbish bin could still be recycled.

Brighton & Hove is preparing to collect household rubbish once a fortnight instead of once a week, with July 2027 as the target date. The plan goes back in front of councillors on Tuesday 8 September, in a report on recycling to the Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

Cabinet agreed the direction on 16 July. It asked officers “to continue work to model and prepare for the introduction of a fortnightly residential kerbside residual waste collection model, with a view to implementation by July 2027, subject to operational readiness and a final decision being taken by Cabinet” (July Cabinet report).

Recycling and food waste collections are not affected. Only the black rubbish bin would change.

Why the council thinks it can do it

The case rests on what is actually in the bin. A waste composition analysis carried out for the council by Alfred H Knight in March 2026 found that a Brighton household throws out 2.87kg of rubbish a week, of which 2.36kg could have been recycled.

Chart showing the contents of an average Brighton rubbish bin: 29.4% food waste, 13.6% dry mixed recyclables, 1.1% garden waste, and 55.9% material with no kerbside recycling route

By weight, the average rubbish bin is:

  • 29.4% food waste, which has had a weekly kerbside collection since the phased citywide rollout began in September 2025
  • 13.6% dry mixed recyclables
  • 1.1% garden waste

The council’s two documents put slightly different totals on that. The September presentation says 44.1% of the bin could still be recycled; the July Cabinet report says 45.1%. Either way, close to half of what Brighton puts in the rubbish is already collected separately at the kerb.

The other argument is that many households have stopped filling the bin every week. Service data shows around 30% of households already put their rubbish bin out fortnightly or less often.

The recycling rate has moved, sharply

Brighton’s recycling rate has been poor for years. It is now rising fast. Comparing January to March 2026 with the same quarter in 2025:

Measure Jan to Mar 2025 Jan to Mar 2026 Change
Recycling rate 24.5% 31.6% +7.2 points
Dry recycling rate 18.8% 21.2% +2.3 points
Composting rate 4.7% 9.3% +4.6 points
Energy recovery rate 75.2% 68.6% -6.6 points
Residual waste per household 132.5kg 123.1kg -9.3kg (-7%)

The food waste service is doing most of the work. Monthly tonnage has gone from 16 tonnes in September 2025 to about 475 tonnes by June 2026, and the weight of food waste left in rubbish bins has fallen by 49%. Total household rubbish is 37.4% lower than in 2022.

National evidence points the same way. A University of Southampton study found that switching to alternate weekly collections increased recycling rates by up to 9%, and analysis by the charity WRAP found councils on fortnightly rubbish collections achieve recycling rates 5 to 10 percentage points higher than those collecting weekly. About 80% of councils already collect rubbish fortnightly.

The catch: contamination, and reliability

Two things stand in the way, and the council says so plainly.

The first is contamination of recycling, which remains high. Household rubbish and bagged waste account for 49.98% of it, and glass for a further 11.85%. A contamination policy is due to be in place by autumn 2026, and the council intends to use in-cab technology data to tell residents through the website and by email when their recycling has been rejected.

The second is reliability. The report says bluntly that the service “has experienced significant historic issues which have resulted in it operating sub-optimally over a sustained period”, and that “the reliability of collections needs further improvement to ensure the change to fortnightly residual waste collections can be introduced successfully in 2027”.

Resident engagement found support for a fortnightly model “depends on reliability, clarity, fairness and confidence in food waste and recycling services”, with residents wanting assurance the council will respond quickly to missed collections, side waste, contamination, odour, pests and storage problems.

To that end the council has promised a published set of service standards covering aligned collection days where possible, how missed collections are handled, proactive warnings about disruption, and regular publication of performance data.

What it costs

Cabinet agreed £1.3 million of investment in July to get the service ready, covering extra crews, controller roles, new vehicles including twin-pack kerbside recycling vehicles, a fleet replacement programme, investment in the Hollingdean depot and a review of bin capacity across the city.

That money is not offset. The scrutiny report says “no specific offsetting savings have been identified” and that the £1.3m “is additional over and above the current forecast position and so adversely impacts the financial position of the council”.

The return comes later. The fortnightly model is estimated to save about £0.5 million, with £0.375 million expected in 2027/28 and the remainder the year after. On those figures the investment pays back within three years.

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes yet. Rubbish is still collected weekly, and a final decision has not been taken. Cabinet has only agreed to prepare for the change, “subject to operational readiness and a final decision being taken by Cabinet”.
  • If it goes ahead, the target is July 2027. Recycling and food waste collections stay as they are.
  • The food waste caddy is the thing to use. Food is 29.4% of the average rubbish bin by weight and is collected every week. If you are not using the service, a fortnightly rubbish bin will be much harder than it needs to be.
  • Keep recycling clean, dry and loose, and keep glass separate. Bagged waste and glass are the two biggest contaminants. From autumn the council intends to email you when your recycling is contaminated.
  • You will get a say. Residents will be consulted on the redesigning of collection rounds, and face-to-face events are planned across the city in early 2027 ahead of the change. Further sessions will cover container capacity, assisted collections and households with medical or additional waste needs.
  • Flats, shared houses and larger households are a known problem. The Cabinet report says a “fair and inclusive service provision will be central to implementation proposals” and names flats above shops, shared houses, larger households and older and disabled residents as the groups still being worked through.

Our Brighton bin collection days page explains how to find your current collection day, including why communal bins have no fixed day.

The Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee meets at 4pm on Tuesday 8 September at Hove Town Hall, BN3 3BQ. It is being asked to note the report and comment on how recycling might be improved further; it takes no decision.

Sources