Recycling centres to remain shut
A date has not yet been set for tips reopening in Birmingham after the council closed all five at the start of the coronavirus lockdown.
Birmingham City Council closed the household recycling centres on March 24 along with other local authorities following an announcement from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The council is continuing to provide waste and recycling collection services though it has suspended new subscriptions for garden waste collection.
A date has not yet been set for when sales for garden waste collection subscriptions will restart either.
A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: “This is under constant review, but the over-riding aim has to be ensuring social distancing to fight coronavirus as effectively as possible.
“We are also still providing our scheduled services for household waste and recycling (as well as garden waste to subscribers).
“Based on Government advice, going to a tip is not an essential journey and given that our services are being provided as scheduled there is not as pressing a need as there may be in some council areas where bin collections have been significantly impacted by Covid-19.”
Referring to new sales for garden waste collections, the spokesman said: “We are in the midst of the response to Covid-19, which was the reason for the suspension in the first place.
“People can compost at home (we have been advising and promoting this online). If this is not possible, we advise that they hold on to the garden waste until a time that the HRCs re-open.
“Garden waste should not be added to the regular household or recycling bins.”
There have been reports of a national increase in fly-tipping since the lock down began.
The ClearWaste app which lets users report instances of fly-tipping recorded a rise of 54 percent nationwide in the first week of lock down compared with the figure for the previous week.
By Easter, this had reached 75 percent.
Fly-tipping is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £50,000 or 12 months imprisonment if convicted in a magistrates’ court.
The offence can attract an unlimited fine and up to five years imprisonment if convicted in a crown court.
