Fortnightly rubbish collections proposed for the whole city

Every household in Birmingham could move to fortnightly general waste collections after a council report found that the pilot trying it out performed better than the one that kept weekly rounds.

The council ran two pilots earlier this year. In the first, in the north of the city, household rubbish went from weekly to fortnightly, and residents were given a second recycling bin and a weekly food waste collection. The second, in the Hodge Hill and Bromford, Moseley, Kings Norton South and Stirchley wards, kept weekly rubbish collections.

What the figures show

The report says the first pilot "performed more favourably". Households on fortnightly rubbish collections recycled 33.06% of their waste, against about 27% in the weekly pilot.

It also found that running the first model across the city would cost £14.02m a year less. "The costs associated with pilot two are significantly higher due to the resources required to provide the weekly collection service and the greater cost of processing residual waste," it said.

The council said it had also taken residents' feedback into account. Nothing is decided yet: the choice must go to the cabinet, and the transformation of the waste service is due to be discussed at a meeting next week.

What would change

If the first option is chosen, homes would have:

• general waste collected every other week
• recycling collected on the opposite week, with a second recycling bin
• a weekly food waste collection

Councillor Harris Khaliq, the cabinet member for city services, has said the aim is to make the service more reliable and to clean up the city. "People getting the new service will be getting a weekly food waste collection, following the successful pilot, and a second recycling bin," he said earlier this year.

"This means that all that will be left for the fortnightly general waste collection will be whatever can't be recycled, so the waste that causes the most concern, such as smelly food leftovers, will be collected weekly."

He has said the changes would come with extra clean-up work and new investment in enforcement.

Opposition says keep weekly bins

The opposition groups want weekly collections kept. Councillor Jex Parkin, leader of the Reform group, said residents should have "an effective, reliable weekly household waste collection alongside a regular recycling service".

Councillor Robert Alden, the Conservative group leader, said his party had campaigned on keeping weekly bins at the May election and had written to the administration asking it to do so.

The proposals come as the bin strike, which began in January 2025, continues, and as households in parts of the city still wait for recycling to be collected at the kerbside.