Fed up residents of St Pauls are exasperated at a continued lack of action from Bristol Waste as they are left to deal with overflowing bins and rubbish littered all over their streets.
In less than half an hour one day this week, Emma Reynolds – a co-leader of the Better Streets St Pauls campaign – and willing volunteer Nicole collected two sacks’ worth of waste from just one side of one road. The bags contained such delights as used sanitary pads, needles and clothing.
“We just can’t take it,” Emma said.
“We’ve been told they clear our side streets three times a week… (but) none of it’s cleared.”
“They’ve made an agreement that they’ll regularly clear around these MRCs (mini recycling centres) and that they will regularly clear the streets of litter and waste, and that is not happening.”
“Part of the reason I’m doing this is because I don’t like the fact that children walk through this daily, and this is their childhood.”
A lot of waste in St Pauls is deposited in mini recycling centres, essentially communal bins, which were introduced in the area in 2011. The MRCs regularly overflow, leaving rubbish strewn all over roads.
A lot of the area’s issues are due to poorly managed mini recycling centres(Image: Bristol Live)
The team behind Better Streets want these to be emptied more regularly, and for the council and Bristol Waste – which is owned by the authority – to take a more proactive approach when it comes to cleaning the roads in St Pauls and responding to reports of fly tipping. They have been campaigning for change for over two years.
Bristol Waste held multiple community consultations on the matter in March, and despite occasional improvements there has been no meaningful overhaul to the way waste is managed in St Pauls.
While some illegal fly-tipping does occur in the area, Emma said the rubbish lining the streets was mostly the result of overflowing communal bins not being regularly and properly cleared.
“It makes you feel really angry,” Emma said.
“It makes you feel like you’re being shut down, you’re being blamed and you’re being lied to.”
Emma said she had heard rumours that the council may be considering moving people in the area to sack collections. She said that wouldn’t work for people, like her, who lived in small flats.
Across Cheltenham Road in Redland, Bristol Waste has installed large communal bins in areas dominated by student accommodation. Those bins are emptied daily during term time.
Emma said the state of the streets in St Pauls often made her think of moving. She pointed out that should not be the case in a city like Bristol in 2026.
Bristol Waste is still looking for a top boss following the unexplained departure of managing director Richard Williams in March. Since then, the company has operated under what it calls a ‘tripartite leadership arrangement’, comprising operations director Ricky Gayfer, people director Ceri Hodgkinson, and finance director Kevin Hayter.
Bristol City Council and Bristol Waste did not respond to requests for comment.
In March, a Bristol Waste spokesperson said the company was working on an ‘effective improvement plan’ for St Pauls, but there was little evidence of that having had much of an impact during Emma and Nicole’s litter picking venture on Wednesday.
“Feedback from community members highlighted that challenges vary between streets and even sections of streets,” the spokesperson said earlier this year. “It was clear from people’s feedback that what might work for one street might not be right for another.”
“The information gathered from these sessions will now be used to pull together an effective improvement plan that reflects the needs of St Paul’s.
“As with all local authorities, Bristol City Council face financial constraints and challenges, but we are focussed on improving cleanliness using current resources and will also look to assess where additional investment is needed for further improvements. We are determined to work together with the community, residents and businesses to create an improvement plan for St Paul’s focused on finding the best possible solutions for waste, recycling and street cleanliness.”