News RSS Feed Send your news, pictures & videos


Brighton and Hove binmen get “meat-free Monday” the chop

12:00pm Thursday 28th July 2011 in News By Tim Ridgway

Refuse workers caused a rumpus over a plan to ban meat from the menu.

Brighton and Hove City Council's Cityclean workers are used to a beefed-up offering at lunch with bacon butties and lashings of lamb top of the wish list.

So they were left horrified when caterers at the council's depot in Hollingdean, Brighton, decided to offer only meat-free meals.

The idea of “meat-free Monday” formed part of the Green manifesto before the party took control of the local authority in May.

The Cityclean depot was the first to introduce the change.

But managers have been forced to shelve the scheme immediately after the workers refused to let them give chops the chop for even one day a week.

One worker said: “As a result of potential grievances and general disgust at being told no meat would be served in the staff canteen, the policy has been abandoned and they will return to serving meat every day from now on.”

Central services cabinet member Jason Kitcat said: “We are not looking to force this on staff which is why we talked to union representatives before it was introduced.

“The idea is to find ways to get staff and people to talk about the issue.

“We will continue to keep having conversations with staff to find out ways forward.”

Meat Free Monday was launched in 2009 by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney as “a simple and straightforward idea to show everyone the value of eating less meat”.

It claims not eating meat for one a day a week can save people money, reduce the impact on the environment and help people live healthier lives.

Supporters include Sir Richard Branson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Joanna Lumley.

A council spokesman said: “It's disappointing if the concept hasn't gone down too well.

“But we'll work to communicate the benefits better and work closer with the workforce in any future plans.”

Comments(54)

banargustrolls says...
12:05pm Thu 28 Jul 11

It was only a poor attempt by the council to 'beef up' its green credentials anyway.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Angryoldman says...
12:29pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Its a very good idea but it should be choice and not forced upon employees or anyone else.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

mfc1960 says...
12:38pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Argus your stories amaze me,a report about the council banning meat and a cabinet minister called Kitcat brilliant.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Davrow says...
12:44pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Won't be able now to lift those nasty bin-bags now.
They will be rummaging for more food on the tip now.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

george smith says...
12:49pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Being Green is a bit like a new religion, pious: only fish on fridays, no pork etc

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

brightonparty says...
12:49pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Cue ignorant comments from small-minded ignoramuses.
The plain fact is that we have abused our planet beyond repair, cutting out meat one day a week will not kill you and might go some way to reducing the devastating impact we humans have on this planet, that coincidentally we all have to share. It's not just there for you to take from. Well done to the Greens for trying to make a difference, unfortunately I think we have gone past the tipping point and it's all downhill from here on in......

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

tweety72 says...
12:52pm Thu 28 Jul 11

goodness when will they ever stop moaning,just be thankful you have a job cos if you dont want it theres plenty that will.
some people have real worries like can they afford put food on the table for their family,nice you have a choice to disagree over!!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

fedupbrighton says...
12:57pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Binmen are such Divs!! You are lucky you even get fed!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Brighton_Belle says...
1:05pm Thu 28 Jul 11

I think it's a good idea, and is something I would be happy to do.

They shouldn't have tried to force it on people though, bad idea. They will get minimal support for it now, whereas if they'd have asked people to do it, there might have been a better response. It's all about choice.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

pperrin says...
1:16pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Useless Green councillors wasting time and money from *OUR COUNCIL TAX*

If people want 'Meat free Mondays' they can simply not eat any meat on that day!!

This requires *NO* input/effort/expendi
ture from the council.

People can do it themselves if they want to.

For this nonsensical, wasteful, unnecessary, non-work we are now expecting a hike in council tax!!

No wonder Caroline Lucas was (reportedly) horrified that the Greens won the election!

Its been suggested that she had hoped Greens would be a close second to labour, so they could continue to whinge and whine from the sidelines with out having their MAD, EXPENSIVE and BAD agenda revealed as the nonsense it is.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

boredofbrighton says...
1:21pm Thu 28 Jul 11

I agree that it shouldn't have been forced, but if these guys don't want it, give the meals to the pensioners who can't afford to heat their homes over the winter, or to the homeless who would likely jump at the chance of a free meal.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Always working says...
1:29pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Granted we have abused the planet but if we're going to get het up about stories like this then read yesterdays 'The Sun' about how they shoot male calfs at a chochlate making firm because they don't produce milk or offspring. If we ban eating meat then those poor animals are completely going to waste!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

UppityPrimate says...
1:48pm Thu 28 Jul 11

maybe we need morrissey's input?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

brightonparty says...
2:18pm Thu 28 Jul 11

yeah, i just get het up with the ignorant divs who post absolute rubbish (most of it right-wing leaning propaganda) on here, I should just stay away lol.
Personally I haven't eaten meat for 25+ years but If people want to eat it meat that's their choice. I think that in the future we will all be eating meat substitutes coz only the filthy rich will be able to afford meat. The poor will be back to eating pigs trotters and sheeps brains, just like when I was a lad...

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

brightonparty says...
2:25pm Thu 28 Jul 11

yeah, i just get het up with the ignorant divs who post absolute rubbish (most of it right-wing leaning propaganda) on here, I should just stay away lol.
Personally I haven't eaten meat for 25+ years but If people want to eat it meat that's their choice. I think that in the future we will all be eating meat substitutes coz only the filthy rich will be able to afford meat. The poor will be back to eating pigs trotters and sheeps brains, just like when I was a lad...

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Brighton_Belle says...
2:31pm Thu 28 Jul 11

I doubt they get free meals! :)

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

UppityPrimate says...
3:13pm Thu 28 Jul 11

what with being deprived of their daily meat, having to work a handful of mornings a week, and being set upon by angry Hoveians (Hoveites? Hovers? Hovemen?), these poor humble binfolk are in hard times.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Alison Smith says...
4:12pm Thu 28 Jul 11

" Let them eat Kitcats".....as long as they recycle the wrappers!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Alison Smith says...
4:12pm Thu 28 Jul 11

" Let them eat Kitcats".....as long as they recycle the wrappers!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Morpheus says...
4:22pm Thu 28 Jul 11

First the Greens want to tell us what to eat, next it will be how to dress and then they will start telling us when we can have children. How can anybody have voted for this lot?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

TheInsider says...
4:22pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Why does a council have time to issue dictats about the content of a canteen menu when there really are bigger meat-free fish to fry?
What the Argus should be asking is how many working groups were set up to manage this issue, how many emails issued, hours wasted, is staff consultation and agenda items now being added to deal with this issue.
It's beyond belief that this utter nonsense is discussed when the same council is planning a 3.5 per cent council tax increase and there are families in the city who don't know if they will bloody well eat let alone have a bloody meat free Monday.
I cannot believe a council gets involved with this stuff.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

papa_melons says...
4:26pm Thu 28 Jul 11

shouldn't it read brighton and hove binmen GIVE meat-free monday the chop ?
Oh hang on.............

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Andy R says...
4:33pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Quick! Get back under the rickety bridge! Goats coming!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

MuammarQaddafi says...
5:23pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Isn't the very point of meatless Mondays supposed to be that it's a CHOICE? Where is the ethical content if you are forced to do it against your will? Still, they don't know their own luck. My employers don't provide any food at all, any day of the week, period.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

nocando says...
5:48pm Thu 28 Jul 11

No, you're the div. these aren't free meals we're talking about, this is their on site canteen which runs like any other cafe. And if men who get up at 5am to leg it 8 or 9 miles a day following a dustcart, all day every day want their bacon buttie like any other working man then its not up to you, kitcat, lucas or any other ill informed and interfering do gooder to decide they can't have it. Whatever day of the week it is, good on them for f******g it off, the very idea is a complete p***take, no matter how 'right on' the original intention was.
Why don't you try that work for a day, then turn round and preach? I doubt you'd last the morning, never mind making it to your rabbit food sandwich at lunchtime.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

suede27 says...
5:48pm Thu 28 Jul 11

And there we have it - a Green-run council for you.

I expect they dreamed of Mondays being a lunch of carrot and lentil soup, wholemeal bread, a copy of the Guardian and ethically-sourced coffee with skimmed milk.

Would the last person to leave Brighton and Hove please turn off the (energy-saving) lights please.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

nocando says...
5:50pm Thu 28 Jul 11

sorry, was aimed at fedupbrighton or whatever it calls itself.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Christophe Hawtree says...
5:55pm Thu 28 Jul 11

Chop? The Argus prose style makes for an, er, punishing read.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

sdhgfhfuyt says...
6:20pm Thu 28 Jul 11

bindippers - if you can't work unsupervised or efficiently, why don't you find a different career instead of doing an important job badly?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

tonybee says...
3:32am Fri 29 Jul 11

Greens can eat veg if they want to
Why can't our Binmen eat red meat etc.whenver they like? As long as they shut my bin lid & stop impersonating
council house cowboys which causes
a disabled pensioner(me) much grief

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

george smith says...
7:17am Fri 29 Jul 11

Council hypocrisy, they cover every grass patch with sheep, there are no retirement homes for sheep; the sheep end up on the table for lunch or as pet food

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

DC Brighton says...
9:12am Fri 29 Jul 11

“We will continue to keep having conversations with staff to find out ways forward.”

Please don't bother. You already know the answer. I'm sure our binmen have something more important to do than have "conversations" with some jobsworth about their dietary requirements. How about redirecting this person to look for spare parts for the two dustcarts in case they break down again?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Davrow says...
9:27am Fri 29 Jul 11

They are called Council Dustcarts so put this Diet walley in it, Time wasting Twit !!!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

contentedmummy says...
9:30am Fri 29 Jul 11

I'm all for reducing the impact on the environment and meat product has been proved to be detrimental but I'm gobsmacked that the Green Party cannot see this is the wrong way to influence people. 'Meat-free Monday' is a PR gimmick and a little patronising. If you impose these sorts of things on your workers, you'll have a bigger backlash which will set back any awareness campaign. Wrong move.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

rosiedoes says...
10:51am Fri 29 Jul 11

I like meat and I eat meat frequently - although not necessarily every day. However, the Greens can take their ideals and poke them. They should try focusing on some of the actual problems this council fails to address on a daily basis, rather than attempting to force irrelevant dietary choices on the people who do one of the worst jobs in the borough. It is simply not their place.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Ozimandias says...
11:07am Fri 29 Jul 11

this is such a minor issue when compared with the REAL issues we face in the area;- unemployment, the pensions crisis, housing shortage,pollution of the seas and farmland etc etc. At least the Greens focus attention on difficult issues often ignored by other parties.
J Birkett

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

george smith says...
1:02pm Fri 29 Jul 11

We also need to remember Hitler was a vegetarian.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

brightonparty says...
1:05pm Fri 29 Jul 11

it's called democracy, get used to it. If you don't like it you can move to Eastbourne. or as far away from us as possible...

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

george smith says...
1:49pm Fri 29 Jul 11

Is this the reponse of a green? If it is it says so much in the subtext.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Just asking! says...
3:17pm Fri 29 Jul 11

Is this Green Party, who cannot even stop their own binmen from eating a sausage, the same Green Party that tell us they are going to scrap Trident and abolish bankers bonuses?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

GRANDAD says...
7:51pm Fri 29 Jul 11

How did life get so complicated. There was a time when dustmen got up early, sorted them selves out, did their rounds emptying and clearing away all the rubbish. They would go to their canteens and eat their meals while the foreman would issue any new instructions or sort out maintainance, rotas etc and all ( mostly) was well in the land.
Now we have managers or supervisors telling refuse collectors what they should be eating, when they should be eating or not eating it and what rubbish they should leave behind on the pavements and what other items they should refuse to clear. Maybe thats why they now call 'em refuse collectors as part of the job seems to be to refuse to collect.
Can't we let all the supervisors, managers, council led think tank idiots who don't do real jobs but want paying out of the rates, just be got rid of, sent to the land where the busy bodies live and stop bu**ering up every thing that used to work without their input.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

hubby says...
9:08pm Fri 29 Jul 11

Silly sausages!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Fieldbean says...
9:42pm Fri 29 Jul 11

Yep this is a big shame that the bin men have failed to take up this challenge.

Accepting the small morning and lunchtime sacrifice would have been a cool gesture to a council that is going to bend over backwards to create as much equality within the city.

It will be hard to convince manual working class males/females of the overall benefits when there is so much pressure from society to achieve certain goals like, house relationship, pension. Traditional animal products will be part of the lifestyle, it could be like taking away cigarettes from a smoker.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

tonybee says...
3:26am Sat 30 Jul 11

The Greens (or should it be Yellows)
abd the binmen deserve each other.
Biggest bunch of cowboys since the Jesse James gang

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

HumpsBlowdoll says...
8:07am Sat 30 Jul 11

The Greens must be insane; don't they realise that eating meat gives a person energy to live, and energy to love? I get all of my sex-energy from eating meat every day of the week.

If I was a bin-man and some liberal, bed-wetting Green told me to stop eating meat, I'd go on a rampage.

GOD BLESS ALL TYPES OF MEAT!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

fretlessbass says...
10:10am Sat 30 Jul 11

george smith , brighton says...
1:02pm Fri 29 Jul 11

We also need to remember Hitler was a vegetarian.
- This is a commonly believed myth. Hitler was big eater of German sausages and pies, thesev gave him terrible flatulence which he countered by following a vegetarian diet until his system was purged.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Number Six says...
10:52am Sat 30 Jul 11

Counter flatulence by eating a vegetarian diet? I should think that would make it a lot worse. Or haven't you seen David Attenborough's clip of gorillas ****

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Falmer Wizard says...
4:26pm Sat 30 Jul 11

Thank goodness the Council have been prevented from introducing meatless Monday otherwise we should then have greens Wednesdays and Pulses Fridays.
We have the only green MP and its unlikely that this number will increase due to recent local decisions

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Seagull John says...
6:22pm Sat 30 Jul 11

Close the canteen and let the binmen buy/take their lunch like most of us in the private sector. Then they can chose meat, cheese or whatever they fancy.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

CaliforniaGirl says...
12:58am Sun 31 Jul 11

For years a lot of us who do not want to eat meat have only been offered salad as a 'meal' when visiting a pub or other eatery....

we survived that.... and if meat-eating people are so narrow-minded that they cannot accept a ONE DAY alternative, then it is no wonder at all to me that we have the mindless coalition goverment that we do....

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

george smith says...
7:20am Sun 31 Jul 11

You chose to be a veggie , I am as well: however these are adults and should have a fundamental right to chose what they want to eat. An earlier posting suggested if I didn't like it I should move elsewhere. I was born in Brighton and find it unsettling that although the greens are happy to have protesters in the city protesting in favour of what they approve off, disagree with them and they want you to move elsewhere. A sort of ethnic cleansing

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Number Six says...
11:09am Sun 31 Jul 11

It's the arrogance of people who think they have some right to tell other people what they may, or may not, eat that gets me. What I shove in my mouth is nobodys business but my own and I neither need, nor want, anyones approval. Bloody food fascists! Anyway, if the Greens are so worried about other peoples lifestyles, perhaps they might consider their approach to the fact that Brighton is riven with booze and drugs. Or miaybe they could introduce a smoking free saturday

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Richard Joyce says...
7:23pm Sun 31 Jul 11

err! Actually.. No ... he wasn't. He was a very naughty boy though.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Al Bion says...
3:18pm Wed 3 Aug 11

Mr Kitcat sounds like a regular guy. Surely he could have come up with some tasty snacks, or is he barred from interfering in case someone points a finger at him?
Give us a break binmen!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

click2find

Most popular






About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree