Run by Veolia, the 60-year-old site is scheduled to reopen in spring 2023. In the meantime, Birmingham city council has advised residents that the city’s four other recycling centres will remain open and have extra booking slots available to ease any potential disruption.
Cllr John O’Shea, cabinet member for Street Scene and parks at the council, said: “Our network of household recycling centres are greatly valued by the people of the city, so it is great we are in a position to invest in this site.
“We want to make it as easy as possible to recycle and dispose of waste in a responsible way, so it is important we have the modern infrastructure to do this.
“I know the closure will cause some disruption but there are other sites with capacity and alternative options available to people. The short-term inconvenience will be far outweighed by the long-term gain.”
The council has encouraged Birmingham residents who would normally use the Perry Barr site to use the Castle Bromwich HWRC in the first instance as there is said to be more availability.
Improvements
Veolia says the redevelopment will improve the local area and the offering to residents to recycle “more of the right things” in a modern facility.
“We are delighted to be upgrading the Perry Barr facility to offer residents a new recycling centre that will help the city to recycle more”
Improvements will include the removal of steps to containers on the site, which the council says will make the site easier to use for members of the public.
Dedicated visitor entrances are to be built, removing the need for residents to merge with site traffic.
The site will also see an increase in recycling containers and a reduction of general waste containers to help residents recycle more of their waste.
Mark Powell, general manager at Veolia in Birmingham, said: “We are delighted to be upgrading the Perry Barr facility to offer residents a new recycling centre that will help the city to recycle more and equip it with the latest features.”
Birmingham
Veolia signed a 25-year-deal for the treatment of residual waste with Birmingham city council in 1994. This included the management of the city’s five HWRCs and the 350,000 tonnes per year capacity energy from waste plant at Tyseley.
In December 2019 the council opted to award Veolia a revised interim contract that would see the deal continue to 2024 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Representing an estimated population of more than 1.1 million, Birmingham city council had a household waste recycling rate of 23.6% in the 2019/20 financial year, one of the lowest rates in England.
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