Hove residents in 'utter disbelief' at no recycling collections

Recycling has been piling up since January in Downsman Court in Hangleton and residents have been met with “excuse after excuse” when confronting the city council.

One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said Cityclean staff came to their communal bins area on Friday and left rubbish strewn on the floor and recycling in general waste bins.

It comes after Brighton and Hove City Council’s bombshell claims that missed collections in the city were due to deliberate sabotage on bin lorries which meant not all rounds were able to be completed.

Recycling left strewn on the floor on Friday (Image: Supplied)

“I was angry before but since what happened on Friday I am even more annoyed by it,” the resident said.

“If we were caught putting recycling into a general waste bin we would be fined. It is filling up our general waste bin and made a state of our store room. They wouldn’t appreciate someone going to where they live and doing that.

“I am in utter disbelief and frustrated that every time I call it seems to be excuse after excuse. They say one of the vans has broken down, one of them was on fire and blame it on staff sickness.

“They never give me a concrete date of when it’s going to be collected. On Wednesday it will be ten weeks since they were last collected.

Recycling in general waste bins which residents say was council staff (Image: Supplied)

“It wasn’t residents who did that, it has been there so long that I recognise what is down there and if it has been moved.

“I explained what happened on Friday, they said someone had turned up to collect it but I told them they didn’t collect anything and they made it more of a state compared to what it was before. I’d like for them to find out who was on that shift as it was unacceptable.”

The communal recycling bins were collected yesterday after The Argus contacted the council. 

Earlier this month, this paper reported how streets in the city were becoming “filthy” with festering rubbish.

The area around Hove Town Hall was left with rubbish piled on top of bins for days. Residents described it as a "recurring problem". 

The council then said that it was due to two Cityclean lorries being tampered with by people cutting electrical wires on them.

A council spokesman said: "We’re currently experiencing staffing and vehicle breakdown issues that are affecting streets, rubbish and recycling collections across the city. Last Thursday’s fire also took another vehicle out of action, making the situation worse.

“We’re aware of the situation at Downsman Court and apologise to residents. We will ensure a collection takes place as soon as possible.

“To help catch up on all missed collections we’re redeploying staff and using agency staff as well as hiring additional vehicles.”