At least 26,000 tonnes of rubbish removed from Birmingham’s streets, says minister as strikes continue

8 comments

1. tldr; Paid external contractors to do it, with the army organising ‘the logistics involved’ (actually in reality ensuring nothing *cough the unions* stopped the externals just coming in from elsewhere and doing the job without intimidation – but we can’t say that bit out loud).

   Interesting to see what UNITE’s next move is .. as the rubbish (their biggest bargaining chip) is just about gone…

2. Why does it come to striking when it comes to others, but when it is then, they find it easy to wad their pockets?

   They and their fellow politicians should go clear the rubbish.

3. If a bag weighs 25kg, you can fit 17.5 tonnes into a 20 ft container.

   So you have an idea of how little 26 tonnes is, it’s probably about three average sized streets worth.

   Ironically a garbage truck weighs about 25 tonnes.

4. [removed]

5. fun fact for people interested in the logistical side of this.

   * 20kg maximum weight requirement of a bin bag for the role. (this is often broken because 99% of the public don’t know, or don’t care)
   * trucks have a weight limit of 26,000kg. the truck weighs 15,000kg on average.
   * 8,000-11,000kg will be dropped off in a transfer station. this is like a holding pen for cattle, but instead of cattle its waste.
   * an articulated HGV can take between 17,000-25,000kg of waste to a recycling plant, incinerator or landfill depending on council practices.
   * 21,000 footsteps a day on a slightly higher than average day
   * £24,800 on average for a wage.
   * have to deal with the public, which some of them hate and bother binmen for little to no reason.
   * class 2 licence required for driving role.
   * to clear 26,000 tonnes(very plausible weight, I don’t doubt it – Birmingham is a big place) means 1,300 trips, guestimate of a fleet of 26 trucks, 50 collections they’ve had to do.
   * this doesn’t account for the waste that has passed through HWRC’s, fly tipping or street cleansing, which all of those operations have been affected and not taken into account.

   it is quite the tough life for people to do, and it needs to be done, saves the greater population from having to be vaccinated from Leptospirosis, Hepatitis A, and Weils Disease, or actually catching them, and there’s not much money in it for them. especially when you are losing £8,000 a year off your total. if they don’t take this seriously, the binmen position will be very hard to fill indeed.

6. Well it’s not a problem because the newspapers are running back to back coverage on the equalities act and the Pope popping it, so there’s no time to address the fact our major cities and waterways are saturated in actual feces

7. I think the council is bankrupt due to too many people taking out of the pot and not enough paying into it

8. I don’t get this strike, the council seemed to be offering the bin men a pretty good deal.

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