Street Cleansing Operative - Fixed Term Contract (March 2026) in Bristol

Street Cleansing Operative – Fixed Term Contract, from 1st March 2026 until 31st August 2026.

About Bristol Waste Company: What we do is important – we’re here to keep Bristol, and beyond, clean, and safe. We do this for our city’s residents, workers, visitors, and businesses. Our work helps deliver Bristol’s sustainability targets in partnership with the council. Bristol Waste’s commercial operation, where we serve businesses and organisations across the region, is also growing. Our ambition is to provide good quality, value for money services, and we continue to deliver a social value impact worth more than £30 million every year. We want people who share our values and want to work with us to drive our business forward.

Purpose of the role: We are looking for a Cleansing Operative who shares our vision and values to make Bristol a cleaner and greener place to live and work. You will manually sweep, litter pick and cleanse the allocated route, within required timescales and to agreed standards, whilst maintaining compliance with all aspects of health and safety. You may also be required to carry out weed spraying from March to September. Full training will be provided.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work in all weathers, walk up to four miles per day and lift/carry 10kgs refuse sacks onto a van.
• Push/pull a wheelie bin/barrel weighing up to 35kgs and manually sweep, litter pick, empty litter bins and dig out weeds.
• Ensure the designated routes are cleansed to the standard expected and all tasks and responsibilities are completed within the required timescales.
• Maintain a good level of conduct when communicating with colleagues and the public.
• Work individually or as part of a team.
• Ensure the job function is carried out safely and in line with Bristol Waste Company (BWC) health & Safety policy and procedures.
• Comply with all BWC’s working practices and procedures, ensure all induction methods are employed and followed.
• Ensure that equipment used is correct for the job, kept safe and maintained to a good standard.
• Take part in all relevant working rotas within the current operation.

Essential Requirements for the Role:

• Good communication skills in order to liaise with the public and colleagues.
• Ability to work independently, using initiative and as part of a team.
• Demonstrate technical knowledge of the equipment to ensure its safe and proper use.
• Experience or ability to demonstrate suitability for physical work involving pushing/pulling waste bins and lifting waste sacks up to 10kg.

Generous annual leave package (dependent on hours/contract). Employer contribution of 5% into the company pension scheme. Support for Mental Health, including a BUPA Employee Assistance Programme that provides support covering Mental Health, Financial and Family related topics. We also have Mental Health First Aiders across the business. Support for your Physical Health with our BUPA Health Cash Plan (we cover the cost of coverage for you), Cycle to Work scheme and an onsite Physiotherapist. All are free for our colleagues. Because we value our colleagues, we want to recruit more employees just like them, which is why we have our employee referral scheme. Dedicated learning and development team. We take pride in developing our colleagues and some examples of this include our In‑House Driver Development Programme and internal promotions. Many of our Senior Leadership Team have developed from Operational roles, such as one of our Contract Managers who started as a Street Cleanser. Employee recognition ‘Stand Out Award’ and long service awards. To celebrate our colleagues wherever they are on their journey with us, we recognise and celebrate talent. We recognise that everyone is different and strive to create an environment that supports all colleagues through flexible working. We have introduced a hybrid working model where possible and actively encourage part‑time working, job sharing and flexibility on hours.

Everyone belongs: At Bristol Waste everyone belongs – we are proud of being a truly inclusive organisation. We give fair and equal consideration to all applications. We encourage and welcome applications from people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, disabilities, religions or beliefs and of neurodivergence.

Important note on applying: Please apply as soon as possible and before 23:59 on the closing date. Sometimes we close vacancies early if we receive a high number of quality applications. Due to the high volume of interest, we won’t be able to receive late applications, and we are currently unable to respond to all who apply. If you haven’t heard from us within three weeks of the closing date, it unfortunately means you won’t be invited to interview on this occasion.

Contact us: Please contact our People Services team to discuss this role, your application, or any reasonable adjustments and support in applying for this position: recruitment@bristolwastecompany.co.uk 0117 440 6676

Thank you for your interest in joining Bristol Waste Company.