The Opposition Shadow Cabinet at Birmingham City Council has called on the ruling Labour group to ditch their plan to roll out fortnightly bin collections from next month despite an ongoing bin dispute. They are calling for the Labour Council to at least suspend the rollout until summer 2026 to allow a chance for the strike to be resolved, normal collections to resume, and a period of stability to be delivered by the Council.
This comes after Birmingham Local Conservatives recently put forward a fully costed alternative, approved by the Council Finance team and commissioners, that would have allowed the Council to completely drop their planned fortnightly bin collections.
In their letter to bin boss, Cllr Majid Mahmood (Lab, Bromford and Hodge Hill Ward) they highlight that the ongoing strike means currently there is:-
- No certainty over when the current strike will be resolved,
- No certainly about the length of time it will take to return services to normal after the strike has finally ended,
- A need for the service to regain the trust of residents that recycling will be collected AND recycled.
They go on to add "Residents are already grappling with significant disruption and uncertainty, adding a major overhaul to collection schedules will exacerbate an already untenable situation for households across the city. For families, elderly residents, and those in flats with limited storage, managing waste is already a daily struggle, introducing fortnightly collections amidst this burden would create a double whammy, forcing residents to store twice as much residual waste with no guarantee of when – or if – it will be collected".
On the topic of the Equal Pay liability facing the Council, they were clear the Council needs to urgently end all reported Equal Pay liability from the service saying "To be clear, we are talking specifically about the roll-out of fortnightly collections, and not about other changes needed to the service to remove equal pay risks. Those changes can and should proceed independently of changes to collection schedules as they have no impact on the frequency of the service".
Finally, they warned the Council of the risks potentially facing them should they try to proceed with the rollout during a strike "Whilst our main concern is the impact on residents, there is also a potential legal risk to manage with the change if you proceed at this stage. With agency crews already stepping in to maintain some service, reducing collection frequency, without reducing agency numbers could increase their proportional role in picking up the slack—potentially crossing legal lines under regulations that bar using agency staff to replace striking workers. This isn’t just a logistical concern; it risks escalating the dispute further, prolonging disruption for everyone. Residents deserve clarity and reliability, not a gamble that could invite legal challenges from the union".
Cllr Timothy Huxtable (Con, Hall Green South), Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said
The idea that the Council should roll out fortnightly bins during the bin strike is crazy. The Council don't currently have the staff to keep the streets clean and get the bins empty and they want to now change all the collection dates in the city and go around issuing extra bins. It is unworkable and that is why we have written calling on them to suspend their plans to at least next Summer.
Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives, said,
Rats plague our city, a rat tax placed on residents who want them cleared, rubbish piling up, the Council needs to get a dose of realism and scrap their planned rollout of fortnightly bin collections before they make their bin dispute and the state of the city even worse.