And the city council, which announced the roll out of the fleet in June this year, has thanked residents in Birmingham for the “support” they have shown the initiative.
Each unit 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.
The sites currently undertaking a year’s trial period, following which, the council will decide whether the scheme could continue, be modified or see other options pursued.
Investment
Between mid July and the end of August, the council reported that of the 118.4 tonnes collected by the units, 5.5 tonnes account for paper and card and 2.7 tonnes for textiles.
The council said that “given these numbers”, it is expected the figures will continue to rise in the coming weeks and months.
The mobile sites have been introduced in areas with a high level of fly-tipping, and are part of a wider £7.2 million investment into street scene services in the city.
From the investment, around £1.4m went towards developing the mobile sites.
‘Early days’
Cllr John O’Shea, cabinet member for street scene and parks at Birmingham city council, commented: “We know that not everybody can easily get to one of traditional HWRC’s. 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 visit from the mobile HWRC’s 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.”
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