Litter-picking opportunities

Tidy Up Team member Judy Richardson with litter collected by 11 volunteers in Stanmer Park.

BHCC is setting up the Tidy Up Team - trained volunteers who pledge to spend some of their free time picking up litter in their local park. All Tidy Up Team will be  provided with equipment, materials and tools to collect and dispose of litter safely.

They will be supported by the council’s grounds maintenance and City Clean staff who work hard to keep the city’s green spaces and parks litter free.

The project is being co-ordinated by the council’s Rangers who came up with the idea after residents came out in force to support Great British Spring Clean events last year.

Around 70 volunteers have already signed up for the scheme and are undergoing training. They are asked to spend at least 15 minutes each week picking up litter – there is no maximum time limit and they are encouraged to spend as long as they like! They should also own a mobile phone and have access to email and the internet.

As well as carrying out their own litter picks in their local green spaces, volunteers can join organised monthly litter picks in some of the city’s most problematic areas. Forthcoming events include:

East Brighton Park – BIG Tidy Up Sunday February 4th from 11am
Three Cornered Copse - Great British Spring Clean Saturday March 3rd from 10am
Brighton & Hove Way BIG Tidy Up - Stanmer Woods/Upper Lodges, Sunday March 4th, 10am to 12 noon
Preston Park – #StreetsAhead/Tidy Up Team launch event Sunday March 4th 11am
Victoria Park, Portslade – BIG Tidy Up 14th April

Tidy Up Team volunteers are also encouraged to set up their own litter pick events.

Anyone interested in becoming a Tidy Up Team volunteer can visit the council website and fill in an online form. They will then be added to the waiting list for a training course.

Any questions should be emailed to city parks Cityparks.volunteers@brighton-hove.gov.uk  or telephone 01273 292929.

Would you litter-pick?

Help to create a clean beach bonanza.

BHCC’s Seafront Team has joined the #2minutebeachclean campaign, alongside several local businesses. The initiative was launched on 5 June to mark World Environment Day.

The #2minutebeachclean is a simple campaign to provide beachgoers with the opportunity to ‘do their bit’ for the beach they love, encouraging them to spend two minutes picking up litter before beginning their journey home.

To increase awareness of the fate of the beaches and oceans, people are encouraged to take photos of themselves cleaning the beach and upload them to social media sites using the hashtag #2minutebeachclean,

Four distinctive #2minutebeachclean A-boards have been placed along the busy seafront, with local businesses as official ‘guardians’.

The stations hold several litter pickers for public use and a supply of standard reused supermarket plastic bags which can be dropped into any council waste bins.

You can find them at: 

• The Seafront Office
• The World Cetacean Alliance (just east of the Palace Pier)
• Molly’s Coffee shop at Rottingdean Beach
• British Airways i360

​Three of the A-boards on the seafront have been funded in a joint initiative by the council, Surfers Against Sewage and local sustainable design studio Claire Potter Design. The fourth guardian of a #2minutebeachclean board is British Airways i360, where staff are keen to encourage people to keep the beach tidy.

The #2minutebeachclean campaign was founded in 2014 by writer, surfer and beach lover Martin Dorey who lives in Bude, Cornwall.
The first beach clean station was set up at Crooklets beach in Bude. Since then more than 200 beach clean stations have been set up across the UK and Ireland.
Local businesses interested in becoming a guardian or sponsoring a #2minutebeachclean station can contact Charles at the Seafront Office on 01273 292716.

For more information about the #2minutebeachclean campaign, visit www.beachclean.net. And at plasticfreepledge.com, an initiative has been launched by Claire Potter Design for businesses in the city to reduce reliance on single use plastics, supported by the Seafront Office.

Beach bins bolstered

Good news that booming Brighton & Hove is bolstering its beach bins with fifty extra 240-litre bins. These are  being delivered in time for the coming weekend. 

The hottest weather in decades has seen the beaches packed recently and heavily strewn with litter, much of it left during the night. The council has been clearing up to 50 tonnes of litter from the beach on the busiest weekends.

Extra litter-picking staff are also being deployed to be added to the usual 15 dedicated to the seafront.  A further four are on standby from an agency.

Do a two - minute beach clean

Excellent idea.

Campaign against fly-tipping

A new campaign is underway reminding householders it is a criminal offence to dispose of household items in the street.

Brighton & Hove City Council has joined a national publicity drive by Keep Britain Tidy called Crime Not To Care (# CrimeNotToCare).

Last year the council recorded over 2,600 cases of fly-tipping, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds to clear up. Nationwide there are around half a million cases a year.

The council’s Cityclean staff are aiming to highlight 100 flytips in Brighton & Hove. They are handing out leaflets reminding people that leaving large items out in the street is a criminal offence and advising how to dispose of things properly – including via council special collections.

Residents are being urged to check that anyone collecting their waste has the required licence.

CCTV cameras are now being moved around fly-tipping hotspots to catch offenders.

See also: Fly-tippers beware

Foiling flytippers

Typical flytipping at Braypool Lane

CCTV cameras captured six separate incidents of flytipping in one night which has enabled the council to send the offenders fixed penalty notices totalling more than £600. Flytipping is a criminal offence and if caught, people can expect a fixed penalty of £300. Failure to pay can lead to prosecution, a criminal record and an unlimited fine.

The flytippers were all dumping trade waste. The kinds of things being tipped included builders’ and plumbing waste and other packaging.

Businesses have to make their own arrangements for waste disposal and those discovered using council bins will receive a fine of £110.00 and could face prosecution.

The council is not releasing details of the locations until the deterrent has had the desired effect as offenders may move on to other sites in the city.

They can't say they weren't warned: Flytippers beware

Big Belly Bins Beaten

Latest technology defeated by Brighton's litter. (Or maybe it just hasn't been emptied?)

See also:- Brighton bags iBins

Waste & Recycling - Hollingdean Open Day

The conveyor belt.

Have you ever wondered what happens to your recycling after it is collected? Veolia invites visitors from across the city to come along and find out all this and more at their ‘Waste & Recycling Wonder Open Day’ on Thursday 10th November; at Hollingdean Materials Recovery Facility from 10am - 3pm.

Guided tours will be running throughout the day with plenty of opportunities to ask questions and discover what happens at the modern integrated waste management facility. Wonder Day tours must be pre-booked by calling: 01273 544205

Veolia South Downs has a 30 year contract for the delivery of an integrated waste management service across Brighton & Hove and East Sussex. Working in partnership with both East Sussex County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council, it is committed to providing a sustainable approach to managing the area’s household waste.

Cleaner streets on the way?

The council has launched four new multi-functional all-season machines that will allow it’s street cleansing teams to clean the city’s pavements faster and with greater frequency.

The small, compact sweepers can also be quickly converted in minutes into grass cutters, snow ploughs or gritters, enabling them to be used all year round.

Cllr Gill Mitchell, chair of the council’s Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee, said: “They are small, lean cleaning machines that can travel on virtually any pavement and will allow our teams to blitz our high density areas more often and with more power.”

Using the time saving machines will also mean street cleansing teams being able to concentrate on other areas of the city.

The machines will be used in the main city centre area and other busy streets throughout Brighton and Hove.

Fly-tippers beware.

Fly-tipping in Braypool Lane.

CCTV cameras are to be introduced in an attempt to stop flytipping in Brighton & Hove streets and will be funded with money raised by fining people for a range of environmental crimes.

The authority has been able to issue fixed penalty notices for fly tipping since May 2016 under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The maximum fine imposed by the council is currently £300.
Alternatively it can prosecute via the courts under the same legislation.  The maximum penalty from a Crown Court is up to five years imprisonment or an unlimited fine.

The move is part of the city council’s drive to tidy streets and improve the environment.  In February this year it started using contractors 3GS to issue fixed penalty notices for environmental offences.  In the first six months they issued 1082 penalty notices, compared to just 80 in the whole of the 2014/15 financial year.

Environmental crimes common in the city range from flytipping, flyposting and littering to unauthorised distribution of leaflets. Businesses are causing problems illegally dumping refuse in communal waste or recycling bins, increasing the city’s waste and driving down recycling rates.  All businesses are legally obliged to have a waste disposal contract with a licenced operator.

The council says it will respect people’s privacy but use CCTV in a very targeted way to tackle anti-social criminal behaviour at problem locations and help it to meet legal obligations to keep areas free of litter and refuse.

A report on the matter is going to the environment, transport and sustainability committee on October 11.  It can be seen here among the agenda papers for the meeting.

See also:-
Fly-tipper caught in the act by helicopter.
Another litter rant.
Fly-tipping.