Garden waste service won't be reintroduced during Birmingham bin strike
Birmingham City Council has said it is currently unable to reintroduce the garden waste service as the bins strike continues to cause disruption.
The seasonal service was suspended last spring due to the industrial action – despite some subscribers having already paid up.
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Residents were soon reimbursed the payments, with the cost of lost income from garden waste being suspended estimated to be £4.4m.
With the bins strike dragging into its second year, the Labour-run council has confirmed it cannot reintroduce garden waste collections at the moment.
Coun Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “We recognise that residents have been without this service for a year and we are as frustrated as they are.
“Unfortunately, we are unable to reintroduce the garden waste service at the moment.”
He continued that bringing the service back was a “priority” for the council however.
“As we progress with our transformation of the waste service, we will be looking at ways we can reintroduce it,” he said.
“We will keep residents updated on this.”
The transformation of the waste service was previously delayed due to the impact of the bins strike but is now set to be rolled out from June this year – regardless of whether industrial action is still taking place or not.
It has been described as a key part of the council’s recovery plan and will see collections move from weekly to fortnightly last year.
Weekly food waste collections and a second recycling bin specifically for recycling paper and cardboard are also set to be introduced in phases across the city.
Coun Mahmood continued: “We know that as spring approaches citizens will be out in their gardens and will look at options such as composting their green waste or taking it to one of our five household recycling centres, to help them while they are without this service.
“Details of our household recycling centres’ opening times can be found on the council’s website.”
The bins strike dispute between Unite and the council was initially triggered by the loss of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role.
The past year has seen striking workers claim they face a pay cut of £8,000 – a figure the council has disputed.
The two parties failed to resolve the dispute despite talks taking place, with the local authority insisting a fair offer had been made.
