RESIDENTS are paying more money for fewer bin collections that are missed more often.

That is according to a Freedom of Information request to Brighton and Hove City Council.

The financial years 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 were compared on the number of households to be collected, what percentage were missed and how much it cost the taxpayer.

Between the years, the number of household collections fell from 146,016 per week to 145,917.

The percentage for missed kerbside refuse collections increased from 0.17 per cent to 0.39 per cent.

The total cost increased from £4.3m to £4.9m.

The cost was the net income totalled from employee costs, running expenses, sales, fees and charges, as well as "other income".

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "The key reason behind these figures is the fire we had at our waste transfer station in August 2019.

“This meant that for several weeks trucks had to be diverted longer distances to tip waste while repairs were completed.

“This led to much higher than normal missed collections as not all of the work could be picked up due to the additional travelling time.

“In order to mitigate this as much as possible we had to take on additional temporary staff, which increased costs.

“The impact of Covid right at the end of the 2019-20 financial year was also a big factor.

“We had a lot of staff self-isolating and falling ill, and that meant we had to bring in more agency staff than normal. This led to a significant escalation of costs and missed collections.

“Despite further problems we have faced since due to Covid, we are continuing to work hard to ensure residents’ bins and recycling are collected on time.”

The council’s deputy leader, Councillor Hannah Clare, added: “As Greens, we are disappointed with the persistent low percentage our city recycles and are continuing to explore solutions to increasing our recycling rate. We know that residents want to be able to recycle more plastics.

“We are actively exploring options for food waste collections and to begin recycling more types of plastic and these plans will be reported to the environment, transport and sustainability committee in the coming months.

“However, it is important to recognise that currently we deal with all nearly our waste and recycling within the UK, which is something that not all councils can say. Just this week, Greenpeace have highlighted the huge amount of waste that is shipped abroad from the UK.

“We are also committed to tackling waste at the source – by preventing it in the first place. We are working with businesses in the city to reduce plastic waste and welcome any conversations with people who would like to help us stamp out single use plastic use.”