THE Environment Secretary may step in to support a council in a row over recycling.

Michael Gove told MP Caroline Lucas he would be “happy” to intervene after the Brighton Pavilion representative expressed concerns about the company’s contract with Brighton and Hove City Council.

Ms Lucas says Veolia, which has a 30-year private finance initiative contract with the council, is “refusing to change the contract so that a wider range of plastics can be recycled”.

She said: “I’ve been pushing the council and Veolia to look again at their restrictive recycling contract for years so it’s brilliant that the Environment Secretary has now committed to lending his support.

“I’ll be encouraging the council to write to Michael Gove urgently so we can finally start recycling a wider range of plastics.”

The council has a poor track record for recycling, ranking 326th out of 353 councils in the country.

Speaking to Mr Gove at an environmental audit committee session on Wednesday, Ms Lucas said: “The council doesn’t have the million pounds that it would apparently cost to put in the new machinery at the Veolia plant in order to enable a wider range of plastics to be recycled, and therefore we’re in a deadlock.

“Is that something that I can encourage the leader of Brighton and Hove Council to write to you and ask for support?”

To which Mr Gove replied: “Please do, and I’d be very happy to talk to Veolia about that”.

A Veolia spokesman said: “We are always open to discussions with the waste collection authorities about change.

“In relation to the viability of recycling pots, tubs and trays, and some other plastics such as film, it is a complex matter and we advocate collecting only what is readily recyclable, until products are better designed. Without question we would like to see all plastic manufactured so that it is recyclable, collected and then processed into mainstream feedstocks. We are committed to recycling and the environment.”

Council leader Dan Yates said: “The Labour administration of Brighton and Hove City Council has been steadily increasing the recycling rates to the highest they’ve ever been in the city, and they are much higher than those we inherited from the previous Green administration.

“I would be happy to outline our plans for increasing these rates still further to Michael Gove if he would care to contact me.

“However, as Caroline Lucas knows, the lack of availability for a market for the hard-to-recycle plastics is the main stumbling block for all local councils.”