Appendix 2: commercial bins on the highway

Requested adjustments

Below are the requested adjustments (in bold) and advice from officers (bullet points).

We would like to propose a pause on the roll out of the measures in April 2022

• The signatories would like a pause to implementation to explore their feedback and the impacts of the model together and consider some alterations to help make it a success
• The original implementation date has already been pushed back by two months (from 1 February to 1 April) to give businesses more time to prepare for the changes
• Officers do not recommend this adjustment

Bins/sacks can be placed on the streets overnight as is currently allowed, but they should be serviced and taken back off the street by an agreed time in the morning or incur the fine.

• The signatories suggest this would solve 80% of the concerns
• The waste providers are in operation from 4am on some mornings (the morning time-banding window is 6am to 9am)
• Officers stated at the meeting that there will need to be parameters in place to facilitate this, such as vermin-proof bags and a time limit on when the bins/sacks can be placed out from the afternoon / early evening
• Officers recommend this adjustment. This could be a medium-term adjustment as businesses make changes and be subject to review in 12 to 18 months’ time once businesses are familiar with the new arrangements and have made the adjustments

To help with keeping the streets consistent and tidy, we propose all commercial suppliers use a uniform, single coloured bin and/or storage bag (for kerbside sacks)

• While this may have an impact on the appearance of the streets, it does not address the issue of bins causing access issues for wheelchairs and prams, nor the anti-social behaviour that the bins encourage
• It will also likely incur large costs to either traders or waste management providers
• Officers do not recommend this adjustment

Adjusting and/or staggering the collection times across the T zones – rather than one fixed time for the whole city 

· At the meeting and, in a subsequent email from the Assistant Director to the attendees, further information was requested on this in terms of which areas would benefit from staggered times and what times would work for the waste management providers

· This further information has not yet been provided

• In the absence of any further detail on this, officers do not recommend this adjustment

Nominate designated areas/streets to locate (agreed quantities of) bins

• As above, further information was requested on which areas / streets would be suitable and helpful to waste providers
• BID et al have suggested the following bin locations:

· Farmyard (rear of Cranborne Street)

o The source of many complaints about commercial bins on the highway

o There are offices with entrances and fire exits into Farmyard

o Only services 13-14 businesses, unless businesses from further away are allowed / willing to take their waste here

· Steine Street

o Very residential and narrow street

o Existing concerns about criminal and anti-social behaviour on this road which any bins present provide an opportunity for

· Pool Valley (behind bus stops)

o The source of many complaints about commercial bins on the highway

o Bins already here are used to stand on to graffiti

o This is the first place many tourists see when the get to the city

· Spring Gardens

o Quite a distance from many businesses

o Not much room on the highway unless parking spaces are used

· Ship Street (abandoned car park)

o This is not a council-owned car park. Any businesses seeking to use this land would need to discuss directly with the landowner

• Officers do not recommend this adjustment

Create attractive bin store areas designed to locate the above with commissioned artworks and/or advertise the city’s recycling performance

• If the proposed locations are the same as above, the same concerns remain

· Bin stores become a target for arson or other antisocial behaviour which the council would be responsible for managing

• Officers do not recommend this adjustment

Allow the use of bus lanes within certain times of day for commercial and council waste contractors to aid timely waste collections and clear waste by business hours

· Only prescribed vehicles can use the bus lanes as per the Traffic Regulation Orders. If there are wider exclusions, then the bus lanes would not serve their purpose of providing unfettered bus priority. If more vehicles classes were permitted, it would likely lead to intervention by the Traffic Commissioner

• Therefore, this is not an option for private waste companies and officers do not recommend this adjustment

Incentives/initiatives for businesses to reduce their waste outputs and increase recycling

• This could be taken forward as a project once resources allow but, reducing containment is a way of incentivising waste reduction, thus removing commercial bins from the highway is consistent with this objective
• Brighton Chamber are hosting a Big Debate on 30 March to support its members to thinking about becoming net zero: ‘Businesses need to re-think what they do, because getting to Net Zero means changing how they behave’

Incentives for commercial waste suppliers to use zero emission alternatives for collections

• Brighton & Hove City Council does not have the resources to advise private waste providers on their operations or emissions
• As above, this would be a good future project once resources allow but, does not relate to whether people should store their bins on the highway

They also stated a number of unforeseen consequences of our approach:

A significant reduction in business recycling capability, including food waste recycling, cardboard recycling, plastic recycling, glass recycling and mixed packaging recycling

• Businesses can move to smaller bins and more frequent collections to accommodate the different waste streams within their premises
• Businesses can look at measures to reduce their waste overall

Increased HGV traffic in the city from waste operators during rush hours (waste contractors typically service bins and sacks on the street very early morning and pre-rush hour)

• The recommended adjustment to allow bins out overnight will mitigate this
• Or an alternative is to change the time bandings; Cityclean is awaiting more information from BID on what staggered timings may look like

Increased emissions and carbon footprint from HGV vehicles due to the above

• The same volume of waste will need to be collected from 1 April, but within the time banding rather than at any time
• Whilst smaller bins are likely to lead to more frequent collections for businesses, it is likely waste providers will be in the area each day

Increased health and safety risks associated with the above

• It is unclear what their concerns are in relation to this

Increased cost to businesses for alternative solutions (evening collections, in-business collections during office hours, increased frequency collections will all cost more)

• This is a reality, but the highway is not for businesses to store their bins, free of charge
• The counter argument is that some businesses have been get a free storage space for some time whereas other business have been paying to have their waste collected more frequently.

Loss of operational business space inside businesses (and therefore an additional cost to the business), particularly F&B/Hospitality, due to additional storage requirements (many businesses do not even have sufficient space in the first place)

• This is a reality, but the highway is not for businesses to store their bins, free of charge