Industrial action by staff at waste contractor SUEZ has led to South Gloucestershire Council’s Sort It recycling centre in Little Stoke being temporarily closed for at least two weeks.
SUEZ staff working on the South Gloucestershire waste and recycling contract started a second (two-week) period of strike action on Monday (26th June 2023), following an earlier strike that lasted a week from 12th June 2023.
Kerbside collections of recyclables, garden waste and food waste are suspended at present, although the council hopes to maintain scheduled black bin collections, saying:
“Not all staff are on strike and therefore black bin collections (including nappy sacks) are planned to go ahead.”
The strikes follow workers’ rejection of an 8 percent pay offer from Suez, which Unite the Union called a “significant real terms pay cut” when compared with the current rate of inflation.
Although the Little Stoke Sort It Centre stayed open during the first strike, the council says it will remain closed for the duration of the current industrial action, i.e. until Sunday 9th July 2023, as a consequence of the “reduced workforce”.
The council’s other Sort It recycling centres at Mangotsfield, Thornbury and Yate remain open at present. These alternative tips are are all around 7 miles from the Little Stoke site.
Recyclables, garden waste and food waste are accepted at all the above sites.
The Little Stoke dump has been the poor relation amongst the council’s four Sort It sites for some time now. Since 2015 it hasn’t accepted recyclables that are handled by the council’s kerbside collections, along with hardcore, rubble and plasterboard. There is also a ban on large/high vehicles and trailers.
During the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, the Little Stoke Sort It Centre was the last of the council’s four sites to reopen (after being closed for almost four months).
In 2019, the council announced that the Little Stoke Sort It Centre would be replaced by a new recycling and transfer facility at the Viridor site in Filton, but this is yet to materialise.
No warning
A person claiming to be a “council employee” had shared news of the upcoming two-week closure of the Little Stoke site on a local Facebook group last weekend, but no advance notice was given by South Gloucestershire Council.
In fact, it was 11.30am on Monday (26th June) before the council posted news of the closure on its StreetCare page on Facebook. This didn’t help residents who had turned up at the site earlier that morning (see tweet below).
@sgloscouncil Why is the Stoke Gifford Sort It Centre not open waaaaay after its supposed 8.30am opening time?
— Mike Grant (@Michael_R_Grant) June 26, 2023
In a new development, Unite the Union announced yesterday (27th June) that the current strike action in South Gloucestershire has been extended to September. For details see the update appended to the South Glos Post article below.
Related links:
- Bin workers’ strike disrupts waste and recycling collections in South Glos (South Glos Post)
- Service disruption due to strike action (SGC)
- Find a tip or recycling centre (SGC)
‘Bring banks’ open in Stoke Gifford and Filton
UPDATE added 13th July 2023.
Recycling and food waste (but not garden waste) can now also be taken to four additional drop-off locations around South Gloucestershire every weekday between 8am and 2pm. The nearest to Little Stoke are in Stoke Gifford and Filton.
These ‘bring banks’ are located at:
- Stoke Gifford Park and Ride (Parkway Station) – Hunts Ground Road, BS34 8XX
- Lyde Green Park and Ride – Willowherb Road, BS16 7GG
- Page Road Short Stay Car Park, Staple Hill – Page Road, BS16 4NE
- SGC North Way site, Filton, – BS34 7QG
Read more: Bin workers’ strike: Council opens drop-off points for recycling & food waste (South Glos Post)
Site closed “for the foreseeable future”
UPDATE added 15th July 2023.
South Gloucestershire Council’s strike action status page now includes the following statement about the Little Stoke Sort It centre:
“Unfortunately, the Little Stoke site will remain closed for the foreseeable future. We will provide an update when it can reopen.”
Editor’s note: The stated closure duration was altered from “two weeks” to “for the forseeable future” on 28th June 2023.
As our recycling items are not being collected because of this strike, will our Council Tax bills be appropriately reduced? Having to take our recycling to the local Sort It centres means we are doing the refuse collectors jobs for them.