Strike-hit city to move to fortnightly bin rounds

The council said it was pressing ahead with its shift from weekly to fortnightly collections

New fortnightly waste and recycling collections are to be rolled out across Birmingham, despite an ongoing nine-month bin strike.

The city council has said it is pressing ahead with its shift from weekly bin collections to a fortnight service with a reintroduction of recycling services, including weekly food waste collections.

This is despite the ongoing strike, which has left residents without a recycling collection since February.

The authority said the "transformed" service it is proposing includes a second 180-litre recycling bin for residents, and is subject to cabinet approval on Tuesday 9 December.

A spokesperson for the local authority said: "Historically the service has not been good enough, with a high level of missed collections and one of the lowest recycling rates in the country. This must change."

From 1 April next year, every local authority in England will be legally required to collect food waste unless it has been granted an extension by the government.

It is not yet known if the authority has been given permission to miss the deadline but a number of councils in the region have already stated they will not be able to commit in time.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: "Like many other councils we have been in discussion with Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs) on this but the purpose of the cabinet paper is to ensure we can comply with the intention of the legislation."

Subject to approval, the rollout of the new waste service will be phased, with around 20,000 residents transferring to the new service in fortnightly blocks.

The food waste service will be implemented regardless of the situation regarding the city's bin strikes, the council said

'Required major improvement'

The city council provides essential waste collection services to a population of over 1.14m residents and serves approximately 470,000 residential properties across the city.

The report on the new service says: "Birmingham's residents need and deserve a better waste service.

"Even prior to the current industrial action, Birmingham's recycling rate at 23% was among the lowest of any unitary authority in the country.

"In 2024/25 residents registered a total of 121,437 missed bin collections."

Under the review from the city's commissioners, the report added: "For too long, the service has been expensive, inefficient, and characterised by low productivity and poor customer satisfaction.

"The council must be steadfast in acknowledging this history of underperformance."

Councillor Majid Mahmood believes the proposals will bring Birmingham into line with other councils

Speaking about the new service, councillor Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: "Residents will see a real difference.

"We have already made some changes, with our new council-owned fleet fully operational – there is less reliance on hired vehicles, improved reliability and better consistency in collections.

"Our crews have the tools they need to deliver a more reliable, efficient service while also supporting the city's environmental goals, benefiting both residents and staff.

"The transformed service will bring Birmingham into line with other councils, improve recycling rates and provide a service our residents need and deserve."

Over 1,100 new routes and rounds have been developed and the local authority said it expects 30% of all waste to be recycled in the future.

'Regardless of strike action'

Birmingham's bin collections have been hit by industrial action this year, beginning in March after members of the Unite trade union walked out in a dispute with Birmingham City Council over pay and jobs.

Recruitment agency workers, brought in to ease pressure on bin collections, have since walked out in a separate dispute over bullying and harassment.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: "While the ongoing industrial action has delayed the implementation of the new service, the intention is to begin the rollout in June 2026 regardless of the strike situation."

The council also claimed that productivity had improved, "with fewer complaints than prior to the strike."

"There has been a 52% improvement rate on missed collections and a 22% improvement on tonnage collected per employee," the local authority said.

In the third report from the council's commissioners, published on Monday, they said the "long-awaited and much-needed transformation of this essential service has been delayed as a result of the much-publicised waste dispute".

The report added: "As an essential frontline service that every household relies upon, the effective delivery of waste and recycling services is fundamental to residents' confidence in the council."

Kathryn Stanczyszyn, political correspondent for BBC News, said of the decision: "The message is very clear from the city council 'we're going to make this transformation to the bin service with or without the striking workers'.

"It makes further negotiations even more unlikely, and means council leadership - under the government's commissioner - is so determined to push on that an undisclosed amount of extra spend will be signed off in the event the strike is still on next June.

"The overspend in the waste service already stands at £14m - at a time when purse strings are usually clamped shut.

"For residents it is supposed to mean a better service, albeit fortnightly, and crucially an improvement in the city's currently woeful recycling rates."

Meeting disrupted

Protests over the ongoing bin strike caused an abrupt halt to Tuesday's meeting of Birmingham City Council.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, shouts of "wasted" were heard from the public gallery before a woman was seen throwing mock bank notes.

After the meeting resumed, there was a second interruption which led to another adjournment for about half an hour.

Council meetings have been disrupted numerous times during the bin strike, including when Councillor Zafar Iqbal became lord mayor in May.