How residents store their recycling could change in a bid to improve the city's recycling rates.

Brighton and Hove City Council says it is looking at the option of bringing in communal recycling bins to the city centre.

Plans are described as being at a very early stage but the council are looking to consult with residents and run a trial.

It is hoped that the changes would make it easier for people in flats and smaller properties who lack the space to store their recycling.

The change was first mooted in the council's Waste Management Strategy last year which proposed trialling the scheme in up to ten streets for one year starting in October.

The new Green administration said it wants to improve recycling rates in the city which currently languish behind the national average.

Residents in Brighton and Hove currently recycle or compost 27% of the 108,000 tonnes of waste produced in the city every year compared to 39% nationally.

There are around 20,000 properties in Brighton and Hove that currently have communal recycling facilities in their blocks of flats.

A council spokesman said: “We know that some residents are keen for us to look into communal recycling and so we plan to do so.

“It's very early days and we're not sure how it would work yet, and like communal bins it might be suitable for certain central areas but not necessarily other areas.”

The proposals have been met with a lukewarm response by environmentalists and conservation groups.

Alison Walters, of Brighton and Hove Friends of the Earth, said she would like to see evidence that communal recycling facilities improve recycling rates before the plan is approved.

She added: “The problem is, like the move to communal rubbish bins, it is very difficult to go back once you have changed the system so we might be stuck with a system that actually lowers our recycling rates.”

Roger Hinton, chairman of the Regency Square Area Society, said: “We're really not keen to see even more large bins cluttering up a conservation area.

“They will take up parking spaces and the current system seems to work pretty well.”