Some 1.2 million workers are expected to join the stoppage in protest at a 3% pay offer from the Local Government Employers Organisation. Only Scotland is unaffected. However, checks by letsrecycle.com found that some council workers did collect recyclables and waste during the day.
The unions are seeking a rise of 6% or 1,750 a year, whichever is greater.
A spokeswoman for Unison, the largest of the three unions involved, said: “Early indications are that support for the strike is very solid and services have been brought to a standstill.
“There are picket lines across the country including many at tips and civic amenity sites. The workers there are among the lowest paid and some would get only 15p an hour extra under the pay offer.”
The employers said it was too early to tell how widespread strike action was.
Neither side shows any sign of backing down.
Unison's national secretary for local government, Heather Wakefield, said: “Our members voted for industrial action because they are sick of being treated as the poor relations of the public sector.”
But the employers said that their 3% offer, which they called “fair and final”, was well ahead of the inflation rate and the same as the average pay settlement in the economy as a whole.
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