Around 1,000 high and medium rise households will be included in the multi- material schemes in the Edgbaston and Ladywood areas of the city when it launches in October this year. Half of the profits generated will go straight to the flats' residents associations.
Funded by 33,534 allocated under the first part of DEFRA's National Waste Minimistation and Recycling Fund, the pilot will be run by community recyclers Brumcan and housing association Optima Community Association.
“It's a very innovative project,” said Jeremy Shields of Birmingham City Council. “As far as we can gather, most other councils haven't done much recycling with buildings over three or four storeys.”
Under the scheme, each flat will be given a basket to store their recyclables. Householders then separate and empty the contents into one of 13 mini multi-material recycling banks.
Residents associations will be heavily involved in the project. Lorna Langdon, general manager of Brumcan, explained: “We will give them 50% of all the proceeds from the tonnages of materials that are sold for recycling and they are signing contracts with us that include the condition that they will encourage participation.” There will also be a telephone helpline and awareness-raising workshops.
The other 50% of the proceeds will go to Brumcan's charity which provides education in sustainable waste management for schools and communities.
The scheme aims to recycle 49,500 tonnes in six months, based on Birmingham's target of reaching 18% recycling by 2005.
But Ms. Langdon said she could not estimate how much profit would be generated because they were still in negotiations about possible markets.
There are about 400 tower blocks in Birmingham housing around 30,000 households – 7% of the city's total.
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