Birmingham To Roll-Out New Refuse Approach

27 July 2011

A new approach to the way refuse and recycling is collected in Birmingham will see collection crews and street cleaners concentrating on specific areas and working together more effectively

Initially to be piloted to 20,000 homes in Sheldon and Stechford & Yardley North from 1 August, the new approach will see individual crews dedicated to set local patches five-days a week, as well as allowing street cleansing rounds to "follow on" from collection rounds the next working day.

Benefits of the new scheme are expected the include: crews taking more care of the areas they are dedicated to; greater accountability of individual crews to the public and environmental and cost savings from crews working and travelling across smaller areas.

As part of the new arrangements many residents will see a change to their regular collection day, or cycle of the weeks in which they receive green/recyclable collections.

Individual letters are being sent to all affected properties to advise them of their new arrangements, while residents can also visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/collections to check their own arrangements simply by inputting their postcode.

Under the new arrangements collections will now take place between 6am and 3.30pm on the allotted day.

Following an initial pilot period in Sheldon and Stetchford & Yardley, which will allow the Council to refine and make any improvements to the scheme, the ward-based collection model will be rolled out across the city.

A phone number has been set up for members of the public to find out more about the collection pilot, or to report any issues regarding their collections during the pilot: 0121 675 7434

Darrel Moore