Refuse, Noise and Pollution Information
Sharon Baker and Maggie Shapland
For litter, rubbish, fly-tipping, graffiti, vandalism, street drinking, drug dealers etc- all anti-social behaviour, ring 0845 605 2222.
Please remember that you can report illegal activities such as drink driving, drug dealing and suspicious behaviour anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
If you have any ideas about how to improve the cleanliness of your area, telephone (0117) 922 3838.
Commercial refuse: Email: streetscene.enforcement@bristol.gov.uk Alternatively call our customer service centre on: Tel: 0117 92 22500
News about waste.
This page contains general information:
- Trade waste duty of care and leaflet for traders
- Rubbish over the street
- Student Rubbish Summer
- Persistant Offenders of Refuse on the streets
- Refuse Collection
- Black Box Kerbside collections
- Green Box Kerbside Collection
- Food Waste Bin
- Garden Waste Collections
- What you can not recycle
- Who is the Waste doctor?
- Other Household Waste
- Recycling Units in BS8
- Waste Disposal Plan
- Needles
- Dangers to your health in your period home
- Drains
- The Council Pollution Control Team
- Keep Bristol Tidy. What's an S215?
- Bristol Planning guidance regarding Waste
We have also added the following CHIS pages:
- Bins page contains photographs about our battle with bins on pavements and cigarette butts and how it affects our streetscape.
- News about Waste
Trade waste duty of care and leaflet for traders
Oct 2015: These leaflets have been produced by the Bishopston, Cotham and Redland Streetscene Group to help traders understand what their responsibilities are in relation to how they store and present their waste. Both documents have been approved by BCC and are being used across the city.Duty of Care
trade waste leaflet
Household Rubbish on the street
Dec 2012: Households are required to have off-street storage if they want a wheelie bin and should only leave the bin on the pavement when a collection is due. If a bin is continually left on the pavement, the residents will initially be warned to remove it and given a reasonable amount of time to action this. Ultimately the bin will be taken away if the residents continue to leave their bin permanently out, although we always try to work with the residents to find a resolution first.I have therefore raised a job with the Area Environment Team today advising them that this is a problem in Clifton and asking for residents to be contacted.
Should you have any further queries then please do not hesitate to contact the Customer Services Centre either by telephone, email, or using the website :
0117 9222100
customer.services@bristol.gov.uk
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/nav/recycling-and-waste
Student Rubbish Summer
The most common complaints about students involve:- excessive noise (day or night);
- anti-social behaviour;
- inconsiderate parking;
- rubbish not put out correctly or bins left out permanently, obstructing access.
The University of Bristol is committed to responding to concerns in the community about student behaviour and aims to encourage high standards of conduct. Student rules and regulations include a disciplinary procedure for student misconduct in the community. The University has produced a guide for students going into private rented accommodation entitled "Moving on: a guide to community living". This includes advice and information on Noise, Refuse and Recycling and Cars. This will be distributed to all current 1st year students and available to view online on their www.bris.ac.uk/accommodation.
At the end of the summer term, kerb side rubbish increases due to student changeovers at rented properties. This usually occurs in June/July at the end of the academic and rental year and End-of-term complaints about students dumping rubbish rise.
The University of Bristol actively emails all students with information on how to dispose of their rubbish so as to try to alleviate the annual problem of mounds of rubbish being left on streets over the summer. They would be extremely grateful if landlords could also contact their tenants well before the end of the tenancy to remind them that they need to start clearing out early.
Those landlords who have 6 or more tenants in their property may be interested to hear that Bristol City Council will now allow an additional (smaller) wheelie bin to be ordered rather than an extra large bin as long as there is sufficient off-street storage space. An application form is needed as it is not possible to order the bin from the Council over the phone or by email. It may be easier if landlords applied for the additional bin rather than relying on tenants to do so.
Students can access all this information plus information on how and what to recycle on http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/community/living/.
A Flyer can be printed off and given to all interested parties. This gives details about extra collections during the student moving in/out period at end of year in June.
Refuse Collection
If you forget your collection day, call Customer services on 922 3838 and they will be able to tell you.Weekly recycling and refuse Bank Holiday collections dates can be found on the Recycling and Waste section of the Bristol City Council website.
Residents that have kitchen waste collections will also benefit from being able to put out their real Christmas trees
for collection (without the pots).
Cardboard packaging can be recycled by putting it out next to your kitchen waste bin, please remove polystyrene.
Wheelie Bin
The Council collect waste and recycling on the same day. They will collect one wheelie bin of rubbish or equivalent, your black box and any extra recycling you have that is placed in untied carrier bags by the side of your box. BCC will collect either- the contents of one wheelie bin or
- three waste sacks (only if you do not use a wheelie bin)
- They will not empty any extra bins, take extra waste sacks or collect bins that are too full to close.
- If your bin is too heavy to be wheeled to the back of their collection vehicle then we will be unable to empty it.
- After collection, please bring your bins back to your property and away from the kerbside as soon as you can.
Recycling
Five steps to recycling- One - get your black box - call 903 1221 or e-mail recycling@bristol.gov.uk
- Two - learn what goes in it and put it there (see below)
- Three - get your green box - call 903 1221 or e-mail recycling@bristol.gov.uk
- Four - learn what goes in it (see below)
- Five - look at excess packaging on products in the supermarket. If it's got too much, don't buy it!
- Six - consider composting your garden waste and kitchen scraps. Compost bins can be ordered on-line - www.bristol.gov.uk/recycling or call 903 1221 for an order form.
- Seven - recycle furniture by sending it to charities. The Sofa Project (954 3567), Emmaus (954 0886), Sue Ryder (924 4910) or SPACE (955 5755) may be able to collect them for free, for a good cause.
- Residents must recycle as much as possible to ensure that they can fit all their waste in one bin
- Extra recycling can be left at the side of the black and green box in untied plastic carrier bags
- Tower blocks and some blocks of flats are not part of the black box kerbside collection scheme. These residents will be informed separately of any new arrangements.
Black Box Kerbside collections
Weekly collection of:- Newspapers and magazines (including catalogues and junkmail)
- Paper (including shredded paper, please put in an open carrier bag)
- Yellow pages and telephone directories
- Glass bottles and jars (rinse out and place the lids with your cans)
- All textiles (except duvets, pillows, curtains and puffer jackets). Present in untied carrier bags and not black bin liners
- Pairs of shoes (tie shoes together, and keep them dry)
- Household batteries, including rechargeable (keep together in a small, clear tied bag)
- Spectacles
- Engine oil (in a secure container)
- Car batteries
- Small electrical appliances (follow above link to find out which items are acceptable for curbside collection)
- Put your box out for the collectors by 7am on collection day.
- Write your house number on your box to identify it.
- Keep your box in a safe place
- If you move house, leave the box behind for the next occupant.
- For details of the Black Box scheme and collections dates, phone the Black Box Helpline 0117 903 1221.
Green Box Kerbside Collection
Weekly collection Introduced in Autumn 2012. Please rinse food and drink containers- All bottle tops, lids and caps
- Bottles from the kitchen (milk, squash, cola, ketchup)
- Bottles from the bathroom (shampoo, cleanser, shower gel)
- Bottles from under the sink (bleach, washing up liquid)
- Pots (yogurts pots)
- Trays (meat, fruit, biscuit trays) NO POLYSTYRENE
- Tubs (ice cream, margarine)
- Cartons (Tetra paks) All food and drink cartons.
- Cans. All food and drink cans.
- Foil. Foil and take away containers.
- Aerosols. Empty aerosols only. Please remove lids.
- Cardboard (flattened and in or next to your green box)
- Type 1 PET - soft drinks bottles, water bottles, cooking oil bottles (except black plastic, even if it has the PET 1 symbol)
- Type 2 HDPE - detergent bottles, milk bottles, washing up liquid bottles
- Type 5 PP - bottle caps, drinking straws, yogurt pots, margarine tub
- Type 6 PS - if plastic tableware, vending cups, meat trays , fruit and vegetable trays
- bin liners
- black plastic
- bubble wrap
- plastic bags
- cellophane
- cling film
- crisp packets
- hard plastics such as plant pots, toys, videos, drain pipes, polystyrene
Food Waste Bin
- Fruit and vegetables
- Meat and fish
- Cooked and uncooked food
- Leftover food
- Bread, pasta, cereal and rice
- Tea bags and coffee grounds
- Dairy products and egg shells
- Bones
Garden Waste Collections
- Flowers and plants
- Grass cuttings
- Leaves and bark
- Hedge prunings
- Branches - up to 10cm or 4 inches in thickness
- Straw or sawdust - if bedding material, vegetarian animals only, such as gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits.
- Weeds - no Japanese Knotweed
- Leaves
- Twigs
- Plants
What you can not recycle
The following should be put in your wheelie bin or black bag (collected every two weeks), not your recycling bin.- Pillows and duvets
- Household rubbish
- Light bulbs (please take to the Household Waste Recycling Centres)
- Plastic bags
- Broken glass
- Window glass
- Drinking glasses
- Pyrex glass
- Foil crisp packets
- Cooking oil
Who is the Waste doctor?
Confused? If in doubt call the Council on 9223838 - and arrange for a visit from the Waste Doctor at your home.- Never recycled before and don't know how?
- Not sure what you can and can't put in to your black box?
- Worried that you won't be able to cope with one bin and would like some advice on how you can reduce the amount of rubbish you throw out each week?
- The Waste Doctor visit can advise you on reducing rubbish and recycling more, and can give you information on a range of alternatives to just throwing everything in to a landfill.
Other Household Waste
Household Waste Recycling Centres
We have two Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs or tips) in Bristol. There are also many smaller recycling centres across the city. Our Household Waste Recycling Centres are located in:- St Philips, Folly Lane, off Days Road, St Philips, Bristol, BS2 0QS.
- Avonmouth, Kings Weston Lane, Avonmouth, Bristol, BS11 0YS.
- 8am until 6.45pm (1 April to 27 October).
- 8am until 4.15pm (28 October to 31 March).
Bulky Item Collections
To book a bulky waste collection from your home:- Complete our online form
- Call Customer Services on 0117 922 2100.
- We will collect up to three bulky items at a charge of £15.
- Four to six items £30.
- Seven to nine items £45.
- All additional items will be charged at the same rate of £15.
Recycling Units in BS8
- plastic bottles at Roo Bar, Clifton Down shopping centre, Whiteladies Road
- plastic bottles, bottles, paper at Clifton Road near Post Office Sorting Office
The SOFA Project collects for free, unwanted furniture and electrical appliances (0117) 954 3567.
Waste Disposal Plan
Bristol has teamed up with three other unitary authorities to plan what to do with their waste disposal problem. The plan (encourages re-use and recycling) can be seen if you look for "rubbish or resource" which may have moved to http://www.resourcefutures.co.uk/Problems with on Street Waste
There are several ways to facilitate the removal of waste.Bristol City Council has a page dedicated to this on their website for all sorts of waste found on the street from Abandoned Cars to Sex and Drug Litter: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/recycling-and-waste/street-care-and-cleaning
A Flyer can be printed off and given to all interested parties. This gives details about extra collections during the student moving in/out period at end of year in June.
The problems affecting Clifton mostly are:
- Flytipping
- Flyposting
fly tipping form
But in the case of Flyposting CHIS encourages the general public to remove the posters. Both flytipping and flyposting are offences and will be prosecuted when possible to trace the culprits.
 Royal York Crescent |
 |
Persistant Offenders of Refuse on the streets
The damage to our 'street scene' continues, particularly due to abuse of the refuse system. To help members report persistent offenders to the Council, CHIS has produced a proforma which you can send off to the Council. In our experience the Council does try to respond to complaints but does not routinely inspect our streets- so reporting really is important.Needles
Household Clinical WasteAt a Health and Safety event in 2006 involving Safety Officers from different working environments, an Officer of Bristol City Council highlighted a problem that affects car parking facilities in central Bristol. It seems that users of illicit drugs have been sellotaping used hypodermic needles to the underside of handrails on the stairs of multi storey car parks. Needles have also been found concealed in hand towel and toilet paper dispensers. This practice is clearly intended to cause injury and possible infection to members of the public. Whilst not wishing to start any undue panic, it seems appropriate to advise people to be especially vigilant when using such facilities. There is no evidence of this practice happening anywhere other than car parks in central Bristol at present, but people are advised to have heightened awareness when using such facilities.
Dangers to your health in your period home
http://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/diy/diy_dangers.php is a very good resource describing DIY dangers (by element (eg roof, wall), room and material). It describes the dangers of :- lead in paint
- anthrax in plaster (since it usually contains horsehair so could contain anthrax spores- before 1895)
- asbestos (houses built between 1920 and 1980s)
- electricity (gives current regulations)
Drains
Call 0117 922 3838 about- blocked and flooding road drains
- materials tipped down a road drain
- smelling road drain
- personal items dropped down a road drain, for example keys (there is a charge for this service)
Drains, Potholes and Street Lights
can be reported by phone or online: O117 9222100 or 24-hour Emergency Control Centre on 0117 922 2050.
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/road-maintenance
The Council Pollution Control Team
Aims to tackle noise, land, air and water pollution to make a safe, clean and healthy environment.Officers working evenings and nights often respond to noise problems eg. noisy parties and other loud music, continuously sounding house and vehicle alarms.
The team also
- gives advice to planners on the noise/air/land pollution impacts of planning applications.
- gives advice to the Licensing and Central Services manager on potential noise problems arising from over 200 Public Entertainment Licence applications per year.
- inspects and assesses around 90 authorised air polluting industrial processes around the city, to ensure they comply with emission standards.
- has a strong enforcement role and last year served around 350 statutory notices. Where notices are not complied with, the team will exercise its default power resulting in de-activation of vehicle and premises alarms and the seizure of noise-making equipment. Where appropriate, the team will also prosecute for breaches of notices.
Contact them on
0117 922 3810 - Mondays to Thurdays 0830 - 1700 and on Fridays 0830 - 1600
0117 922 2050 - Out of normal office hours. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday 7:30pm-midnight, Wednesday and Thursday 7:30pm-1am, Friday and Saturday 7pm-3:30am
Keep Bristol Tidy. What's an S215?
BCC's Planning Enforcement approach to this is informal to start with. The first stage is to write to the owner and enter negotiation to have the property/land tidied. If this is unsuccessful they can issue an s215 notice.From a community point of view, tidy gardens and land mean an area looks well cared for making people feel safe in that neighbourhood. If untidy sites are left, they become worse and the area starts to feel neglected and unsafe. Untidy sites are rarely dangerous to public health but they will be an eyesore, which means it is detrimental to the local amenity. These are the ones that we want you to draw to our attention.
The council can serve an ‘amenity’ notice on the owner of any land or building which is in an unreasonably untidy condition and it considers has an adverse affect on the amenity of the area. This is done under section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended). This notice is used to maintain and improve the quality of the environment, to assist in tackling dereliction and retaining land in a productive use as well as contribute to the regeneration of an area and respond positively to public concerns. Many of the problems of untidy land and buildings are relatively easy to put right for example:
- blocked gutters and down pipes - water ingress will eventually destroy a building through frost and rot,
- fallen fences,
- dilapidated walls / broken windows / graffiti,
- land with fly tipping, industrial or demolition waste,
- builder's rubble,
- dumped sofas/furniture,
- abandoned vehicles,
- dumped tyres or
- overgrown gardens.
So, what should you do? Council Officers won't necessarily know of every derelict and untidy site, nor of the range of public concern. Don't leave it to someone else. A single report can be ignored as minor. A dozen reports on the same property requires action.
Bristol Planning guidance regarding Waste
The Bristol City Waste and Recycle document (January 2010) provides supplementary guidance to policy ME2 of the Bristol Local Plan and Core Strategy Policies BCS15 and BCS21 and emerging Development Management Policy Policy DM32: (Recycling and Refuse Provision in New Development).Policy ME2 confirms that the provision of adequate facilities for the safe storage and disposal of waste materials from the site will be taken into account when determining planning applications. For example BCS 21 identifies waste and recycling during construction and operation as integral to sustainable design. The overall objective of Government Policy as expressed in Planning Policy Statement 10: Planning for Sustainable Waste Management (July 2005) is to protect human health and the environment by producing less waste and by using waste as a resource wherever possible. Through more sustainable waste management, moving the management of waste up the “waste hierarchy” of prevention, reduction, re-use, recycling and composting, using waste as a source of energy, and only disposing as a last resort, the Government aims to break the link between economic growth and the environmental impact of waste.
Bristol Bin storage requirements
Jan 2010: All new development (including houses, flats, and conversions) should provide accommodation for external or ventilated internal storage of waste and organic and dry recyclables. A minimum footprint size of 0.6m x 1.5m, or a volume of 1.5m3 should be provided where each dwelling or flat has individual storage. This space should enable the following to be stored for each dwelling or flat (including non-self contained flats):- 25 litre capacity storage for organic waste (additional capacity can be provided if required)
- 44 litre capacity storage for dry recyclables (additional capacity can be provided if required)
Storage capacity for general refuse :
- 140 litre for 1-2bedspaces
- 180 litre for 3-5bedspaces
- 240 litre for 6 or more bedspaces
Useful links
- Network of Residents' Association (includes section on anti-social behaviour)
- Bristol City Council holds My Neighbourhood information as well as rubbish and cleansing (use the index) Community safety; Begging campaign; Cleaning our streets; Pest control; Dog wardens services; Pollution control; Gypsies and travellers; Abandoned Vehicle on-line reporting; Street Light Faults on-line reporting
- Avon and Somerset Police website Neighbourhood Watch for North Bristol Area Administrator - Wendy Hull, Southmead Police Station, Southmead, Bristol BS10 5DW. Tel: 0117 945 4545
- Clifton Online
for details of dates of collection