Many residents in Birmingham may remember the strike bin workers went on in 2025 and how that disrupted waste collection, and still yet continues to disrupt bin services, particularly when it comes to recycling.
This bin strike is as of yet ongoing, but Birmingham’s new Council Leader Roger Harmer has vowed to settle this strike, stating,
‘We will find a deal. We will make a deal. There has to be a deal, and that is the number one item on our agenda.”
While the bin strikes remain a problem in the background for the new council leader to deal with, now new bins are coming into the city of Birmingham as part of a national change for collection rules.
What this means for residents of Birmingham is being aware of these new changes and rules to ensure they know what rubbish goes into which type of bin. Every resident of Birmingham can expect to follow this new system of bin collection, though different councils across the city are introducing the rules at various different times.
Some of these changes include:
- Birmingham residents being given a grey indoor kitchen caddy and larger brown caddy for outdoor use. The indoor caddy’s waste can be tipped into the outdoor one when bin collection day arrives.
- Any products both raw and cooked food can go into the brown caddy which includes food waste such as: meat, fish, bones, fruit and vegetables, dairy products, bread, rice, pasta, leftovers, tea bags, coffee grounds, eggs and eggshells, pet food without packaging, beans, cakes, pastries, mouldy or expired food and ready-made meals removed from packaging.
- While any items that aren’t food waste include: packaging such as food wrappers, paper plates, black bags, liquids like milk, oil or fat and flowers and garden waste.
Some of these new rules are as followed:
- Food waste will no longer be able thrown in with general waste.
- One singular caddy is expected to be kept indoors and the others outside to be collected.
When it comes to recycling, Chris Smiles, the head of waste logistics and collection has said, ‘recycling would eventually come back,’ across Birmingham but admitted the fact that by the time the service returns, it would mean residents of Birmingham will have gone almost two years without the recycling service.
