Figures for recycling in the year 2015/2016 released by DEFRA show Birmingham City Council to be right at the bottom of the recycling league in England – and going backwards. The shock figure was 22.9% – i.e. less than a quarter being composted or recycled, the remaining 77% being burned or buried as complete waste/rubbish. This hardly sits with the current publicity campaign telling residents about being a Zero Waste City.
A consultation exercise on a Future Waste Strategy closed on 31 July 2016, and we are still waiting to hear any report of what people said about the future. Meanwhile the end of the council’s 25 year contract with Veolia is fast approaching in 2018.
We are told that we cannot use Wales as a comparison due to the inclusion there of some incinerator ash as recyclate (!!). Therefore below are some recycling rates in urban areas in England (West Midlands and other regions). Birmingham is clearly very far behind the rest.
Table 3: Selected Waste Indicators 2015/16
|
Authority |
Residual household waste per household (kg/household) (Ex NI191) |
Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting (Ex NI192) |
|
Bath and North East Somerset Council |
456.6 |
52.6% |
|
Milton Keynes Council |
592.4 |
49.0% |
|
Telford and Wrekin Council |
583.7 |
48.0% |
|
Doncaster MBC |
562.7 |
45.5% |
|
Barnsley MBC |
510.5 |
45.4% |
|
Peterborough City Council |
566.9 |
44.0% |
|
Bristol City Council |
492.0 |
43.6% |
|
York City Council |
574.7 |
42.8% |
|
Solihull MBC |
586.4 |
42.8% |
|
Wigan MBC |
560.9 |
42.2% |
|
Walsall MBC |
572.0 |
41.7% |
|
Leicester City Council |
524.5 |
41.6% |
|
Sandwell MBC |
576.0 |
40.9% |
|
Bradford City MDC (MBC) |
579.0 |
39.9% |
|
Leeds City Council MBC |
553.8 |
38.4% |
|
Birmingham City Council |
740.0 |
22.9% |
source ; DEFRA Local Authority Collected Waste Statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/
