Birmingham City Council has thanked residents, after nearly 120 tonnes of waste was presented at the new Mobile Household Recycling Centres in their first six weeks of operation.
From mid-July until the end of August, the first two MHRCs received 118.4 tonnes of waste, including 5.5 tonnes of paper and card and 2.7 tonnes of textiles. Figures are expected to grow as two more MHRCs are rolled out, meaning a total of four centres will operate at locations in wards throughout the city.
The MHRCs are part of a wider £7.2million investment this year into street scene services, in recognition that citizen surveys see cleaner streets and waste collection as consistently high priorities for the people of Birmingham.
Each MHRC features three vehicles: a regular refuse collection vehicle for waste with no other use, a van for taking away items that can be reused by charities and a wagon with multiple compartments, enabling people to drop off waste for recycling by material type – just like at a conventional HRC.
The reuse van is only called to the site of a MHRC when the crew is presented with an item that has a reuse value. Such items are taken to the new reuse shop at Tyseley’s Household Recycling Centre.
Cllr John O’Shea, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Parks at Birmingham City Council, said: “We know that not everybody can easily get to one of traditional Household Recycling Centres. This pilot project is all about looking at how we can take a service out to our communities, rather than them having to come to us.
“It’s still early days, but the tonnage data is encouraging. We know cleaner, greener, streets are something people in this city care about passionately, so we will look at the numbers and the feedback we are receiving to ensure this is having the maximum positive impact possible.
“Residents and councillors in areas that have received a MHRC visit are all telling us how much they welcome the service. The project shows we are open to new ideas and will consider anything that makes it easy to dispose of waste and unwanted items in a simple and environmentally-responsible way.”
MORE INFO
DATES
Dates and times of visits are being promoted locally via councillors, community groups and hyperlocal website and social media accounts.
Locations in the areas of south west Birmingham covered by B31 Voices (Bartley Green, Bournville, Cotteridge, Druid’s Heath, Frankley, Harborne, Kings Norton, Longbridge, Northfield, Quinton, Rednal, Rubery, Selly Oak, Stirchley, Weoley Castle, West Heath) are regularly updated on our events calendar and can be found here:
