Garden waste service delayed as Birmingham bin strikes continue
Subscribers have already paid £61.80 for the service
The start of Birmingham’s £61.80 garden waste collection service has been delayed – despite some subscribers having already paid up.
The seasonal service – which has increased substantially in price in recent years – was due to return from today for those who paid the fee.
But the ongoing bins strike – and the threat of all-out industrial action from Unite union members from next month – has seen the scheme delayed.
The council is not taking on any new customers for the service and said it would contact those who had already paid “in due course”.
“Unfortunately, due to the increased level of strike action by Unite the union announced this week, it is with regret that we will be unable to begin garden waste collections on Monday, March 3 as planned,” a council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service today, Friday, February 28.
“For the moment we have cancelled any further subscriptions and will be in contact with those who have subscribed already in due course.”
The council said residents could visit the city’s tips if they had garden waste to dispose of.
They have extended opening hours during the period of industrial action.
It’s the latest blow for hard-pressed taxpayers facing piles of filth on the city’s streets because of the strike.
These people told us they're particularly concerned about a growing vermin problem.
"We're getting rats in the area. I've got rats coming into my car because I've people throwing rubbish outside my house," said one man.
One woman we spoke to agreed: "We've got rats in our area, and the cats come in as well and destroy the bins. It really is impacting us."
Other people said their household rubbish was starting to pile up.
"My house is full of cardboard, and bottles and cans - I'm getting frustrated," said one woman.
"The plastic bin hasn't been touched. The other one is full.
"We're still waiting and waiting and waiting," one man told us.
For one woman we spoke to, the strikes are having a particularly stark impact: "I've got a teenager with special needs, he's incontinent as well so obviously the bin fills up a lot quicker.
"I've got black bags in the garden as well," she said.
Recycling collections have also been suspended with residents told to mix in paper, glass and tin with their household waste or take it to a tip themselves.
The price of an annual subscription to the green waste service jumped from £50 to £60 in 2024.
The council previously warned on its website that it was expecting “some disruption” to the service, which does not operate during the winter, amid the industrial action.
Unite says industrial action is being held over the scrapping of a waste recycling and collection officer role, which it described as “safety-critical”.
The council previously insisted that its planned changes for the waste collection service, included within its proposed budget for 2025/26, would improve the quality of service delivery and safety.
The authority recently said:
“This escalation of industrial action will mean greater disruption to residents – despite the fair and reasonable offer that the council made to Unite the union.
“To the small number of workers whose wages are impacted ongoing by the changes to the service (of whom there are now only 40), we have already offered alternatives.”
It said they included “highly valuable” LGV driver training for career progression and pay, and other roles in the council equivalent to their former roles.
“Residents of Birmingham want and deserve a better waste collection service and the restructure that Unite is opposing is part of the much-needed transformation of the service,” the council added.