Why bins aren’t being collected in Birmingham as council tax ‘refunds’ are called for

A spate of missed rubbish collections and litter-strewn streets have made the town “a joke” and sparked fears of a rat and maggot-ridden summer, councilors and angry residents have been furious.

Streets in the Sutton Coldfield, Edgbaston, Hall Green and Perry Barr areas are among those badly affected by a series of rubbish and recycling bins left on the kerbside for days and weeks at a time. Council bosses apologized and said the problems were down to new collection rounds and breakdowns in some of the council’s aging fleet of rubbish trucks.

Tory councilor Matt Bennett, who represents Edgbaston, said: “Litter collections in this part of town have been absolutely terrible for the last few weeks with no idea that anyone is getting on and sorting them out.”

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Posting a photo of recycling waste piled up outside homes for two weeks, he said: “(There are) sights like this all over Edgbaston with rubbish and recycling not collected for weeks despite promises to sort it out. Council joke”.

Campaigner Michael Thawe, a community worker in Welsh House Farm, Harborne, said it was time the council considered council tax refunds for those affected. “Waste services are simply not working…social housing tenants are suffering the most.”

The issue was raised at a meeting of the council’s Cabinet this week (Tuesday). Cllr Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley) said: “Last week Sutton collections were dropped in the area, we were told that (the collections) were 24 hours ago and would be gone the next day – but in the traces were made. a week later.

“When you drive through Sutton you can see all the bins are still out in the middle of the day so you know there’s a problem.” But he added: “If three-quarters of Sutton were missed this time last year there would be an uproar… this time people are shrugging.

“Failure has become the norm, there is no expectation that the council will deliver.”

Cllr Bobby Alden (Cons, Erdington) added: “I really hope there is serious action in the waste department to ensure residents’ bins are collected on time and street bins are emptied on time this summer otherwise we will have an increase in parasites and disease. “

He said: “There are places in the city where garbage is not missing for a week or two, but for months.” Cllr Majid Mahmood, cabinet member responsible for waste services, revealed to cabinet that he had never personally reported a missed collection at his home – a revelation that drew laughter from members and officers given his role as head of the waste service .

He told members: “I don’t think failure has become the norm and I don’t think that’s the public perception, I think they trust the service that if their bins aren’t collected they will be picked up the next day, which is our new work practice.

“We always hear about missed bins, but we have 115,000 to collect a day, 29.9 million in a year… I take the comments about missed collections into account, especially in the last two weeks, we are embarking on one of the biggest transformations. projects ever in the city, work has already started”. He said much of the council’s bin fleet was more than 12 years old, but plans were in place for replacements, while a change in working practices had caused some early problems.

Full statement from the local council: “We are in the process of overhauling our waste service and new collection rounds started in June. These changes highlighted issues we were aware of, such as an aging fleet.

“New trucks have been leased and will be delivered this month, which will go a long way in improving the service, especially the reliability of the garbage collection vehicles. New management has also been appointed and any areas of poor performance are being addressed.

“We apologize to residents who are affected during this transition phase.”