Guessing game over bin collections continues

Birmingham residents have said "a guessing game" over their refuse collections continues, with reports some bins have not been picked up since April.

People living in Harborne, Edgbaston and Quinton have been reporting problems for several weeks.

Jeremy Laing, from Edgbaston, said collections were patchy: "We're paying council tax for it and we're paying a lot more council tax in Birmingham."

Birmingham City Council said it recognised work was needed on the service but that new management was focused on "sustained improvements".

Mr Laing described the refuse collection service as "dysfunctional".

"You put your bins out and it's sort of a guessing game," he said, "will they be emptied?"

Some residents told the BBC they had resorted to taking their waste to a mobile tip after bins were ignored "for weeks on end".

But Conservative councillor for Edgbaston Deirdre Alden advised people to leave bins out.

"If they come back and your bin has been taken in then it won't get done and they won't come back a second time," she said.

Ms Alden said the "appalling" problem appeared worse for those living in low-rise flats and cul-de-sacs.

"It always seems to be worse the week we have recycling," she said. "That's the week when the complaints I get balloon, although they're bad all the time."

She suggested the council had put extra roads into each round to cut the total number of rounds.

"It simply hasn’t worked. The crews are not getting round them."

She added that it was "the same roads again and again and again that get missed."

Birmingham City Council said in a statement: "New management is focused on making sustained improvements to the service for the benefit of all residents.

"However, the council recognises there is more work that needs to be done to bring the service to being best in class across the city, so we are determined to deal with this."

The authority added it was committed to working with staff, trade unions and stakeholders to deliver "the best possible service" to the people of the city.

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