The Labour-controlled local authority, which is the largest in England, currently operates an in-house waste collection service for over one million residents.
However, the service came under fire last week (December 9) from Sir Bob Keslake who was tasked by Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles to carry out a review of how the council is managed and whether it could be more efficient.
In the review, Sir Keslake claims that for a number of years successive administrations have not got to grips with managing services such as waste management and suggests the service is “underperforming”.
It claims that despite the service costing more than the average for the UK, recycling rates are “lower” and rates of fly-tipping are “amongst the highest in the country”. The council sent 28.7% of its household waste for reuse, recycling and composting in 2013/14.
And, the review claims that outsourcing waste collections could save the council £14.6 million a year by 2020/21.
‘Underperforming’
The review states: “Birmingham City Council’s Green Paper identifies refuse collection and waste disposal as a very high priority service for protection. However the evidence suggests it is underperforming.
“In 2013/14 BCC spent more than the average on environmental services. However, recycling is lower and the incidence of fly tipping is among the highest in the country. We heard considerable dissatisfaction from communities about both the service and how the council communicates.
“As part of the bid for support for weekly collections the council agreed to consider market testing the service and options for greater partnership working. Evidence supplied by the council to the Review suggests an externalisation of collection services could save £14.6 million p.a. by 2020/21. However, the Green Paper does not include this as an option.”
The comments come after the council’s official auditor suggested earlier this year and in 2013 that the council should consider outsourcing its waste collection service to save money.
Council
Responding to the report, Birmingham city council’s Cllr Lisa Trickett, cabinet member for a green, smart and sustainable city, insisted that the council was not about to hand its waste collection service to a private contractor, but was instead focused on improving its service.
She said: “There are no plans to outsource our fleet and waste management service. Our absolute priority is delivering much-needed improvements to the service to meet the number one priority for Birmingham’s residents – cleaner streets.”
The council declined to comment further on the criticism of its waste collection service.
Collections
Earlier this year, Birmingham city council was accused of ‘mishandling’ green waste collections and taken to court, although the matter was thrown out (see letsrecycle.com story).
Birmingham city council currently collects residual waste from households on a weekly basis in a 180 litre grey-lidded wheeled bin, while dry recyclables are collected fortnightly in a wheeled bin which has an inner caddy for paper and card. Garden waste is collected in a separate bin on a fortnightly basis.
Residual waste is sent to Veolia for incineration and dry recyclables are sold on to reprocessors such as Smurfit Kappa (see letsrecycle.com story).
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