Recycling bookings suspended as bin strike goes on

The dispute has led to bin bags and fly-tipped rubbish piling up on streets all over Birmingham

A Birmingham recycling centre's booking system has been suspended as talks over the all-out bin strike continue in the dispute's ninth week.

Negotiations are taking place between Unite union bosses and the city council, which has said more than 43,000 tonnes of waste have now been cleared up.

The removal of bookings at the Castle Bromwich site is "a trial to allow more flexibility for residents", the council says.

The online booking facility for the centre, off Tameside Drive, will be removed for a month from Monday, enabling residents to just turn up, Birmingham Live reported.

The council said talks were ongoing, although they were not currently involving conciliation service Acas.

In a statement, it said: "We are working hard to reach a settlement to end the ongoing dispute."

It also stated it was "continuing on with the contingency plan that has so far cleared up 43,484 tonnes since the start of April".

Industrial action has seen uncollected waste stack up in the city with bin bags heaped up several feet high on some streets at times, amid complaints of rats, foxes and seagulls tearing open the plastic.

Bin workers walked out in an all-out strike on 11 March, after several weeks of on and off action.

The city council later declared a "major incident" over the dispute, enabling it to draw on further financial resources to enlist more bin lorries to tackle the waste problem on the streets.