Birmingham City Council are to scrap separate recycling collections and New Year’s Day collections in a bid to minimise disruption to waste collection ahead of industrial action by members of Unite the union.
Last week, refuse collectors – members of the Unite union – voted to take industrial action in the post-Christmas period as part of a row over claims workers who previously took strike action have been subject to ‘blacklisting’ by the council.
97% of those who voted chose to take action over payments made to refuse workers who did not support last year’s long running bin dispute.
The action will begin on Saturday 29th December, with workers refusing to work overtime and only working to rule. This will make rounds less productive with workers sticking to their contracted hours, working within their job restrictions and returning to base for breaks.
In a bid to minimise the impact on catch-up services and clearing of extra waste after after Christmas, Birmingham City Council have today announced some changes to collections and the processing of waste. Their contingency plan replaces previously announced plans for the Christmas and New Year period.
What is the contingency plan?
- When will the plan come into action? 29th December.
- What will be collected? There will be ONE combined weekly collection of ALL waste types: household waste and recycling will be collected at the same time, in the same truck and processed the same.
- When will it be collected? Collections will be being carried out between 6am and 10pm, 7 days a week (except New Year’s Day).
- When should you put out your rubbish? Put your rubbish out before 6pm on your normal collection day. *(unless your collection is due on Christmas Day (25th Dec), Boxing Day (26th Dec) or New Year’s Day (1st Jan) See below
- What if it isn’t collected on my normal collection day? Leave your rubbish out until it has been collected.
- Can I leave some bags on the side? A reasonable amount of side waste (specified as 2-3 bags) will be collected from households that have missed a collection by arrangement (25 Dec, 26 Dec, 1 Jan).
- My collection is scheduled to be missed. When will it be collected?
– Scheduled collection on Tues 25 Dec will be collected on Tues 8 Jan
– Scheduled collection on Wed 26 Dec will be collected on Tues 2 Jan
– Scheduled collection on Tues 1 Jan will be collected on Tues 8 Jan
As the collection previously scheduled for New Year’s Day has been cancelled, residents with a Tuesday collection will now not have a collection until Tuesday 8th January.
If you wish to continue to recycle, the city’s five Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) offer an alternative option for citizens to dispose of all types of waste including recycling. Before any visit, residents can check opening hours and view the queues at their HRC by clicking here.
Cllr Majid Mahmood, Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Waste and Recycling, said: “Our immediate priority is to minimise the disruption to the people who live in Birmingham.
“We have a contingency, but there will be alterations to the way we process waste that is collected.
“I know this will be of concern to residents who are keen to recycle as much of their waste as possible, but our top priority has to be that of citizens – clean streets for Birmingham.
“We thank those who are committed to throwing away as little waste as possible and look forward to swiftly resolving this dispute so they can resume their recycling – and if there is any disruption, I would like to apologise in advance and assure you that we will get to your bins as soon as we can.
“Both the council and Unite want to end this dispute as quickly as possible and continue to deliver the first-class refuse service the citizens of Birmingham deserve.”
For more information visit: www.birmingham.gov.uk/waste
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