Recycling collections in Birmingham were suspended in February 2025 due to the bins strike
Alexander Brock Local Democracy Reporter
18:02, 10 Apr 2026
Leader of Birmingham City Council John Cotton(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Mail)
The leader of Birmingham City Council has issued a message to residents as the lengthy wait for the return of recycling collections continues.
One of the impacts of the ongoing bin strike, now in its second year, was the Labour-run council suspending recycling collections in February 2025.
For more than a year, Brummies have had to either hoard their recycling, dispose of it in their household rubbish bins or make trips to the tip.
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But the council confirmed towards the end of last year that its delayed transformation of the waste service, which includes the reintroduction of recycling, is set to be rolled out in phases from this June.
It says this will happen regardless of whether the strike is still happening or not.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service recently, council leader John Cotton gave an update on when recycling collections could finally return to Birmingham.
He was asked whether it was still the plan for recycling to be reintroduced alongside the transformation of the waste service.
Bins strike signs in Selly Oak, Birmingham(Image: Alexander Brock)
“That’s absolutely what we’re working towards at the moment,” he said.
“I know that there’s real frustration around the fact that we’ve not been able to offer a full range of recycling services over the last year. That’s a regrettable side effect of the dispute.
“Obviously we’ve been continuing to collect everyone’s residual waste on a weekly basis.
“And we’re very keen to get back to a position where we can deliver recycling collections across the city.”
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According to a council report, the overall timeline for implementing all the new waste services will take around 12 months starting from June 2026.
“There will be a three-month initial implementation phase followed by a nine-month roll-out and reintegration of services,” it said.
“The first three months will focus on workforce mobilisation alongside comprehensive resident communications and engagement.”
This rollout will happen in phases across the Perry Barr, Lifford, and Atlas Waste depots/areas of Birmingham first.
A Birmingham bins strike protest in December 2025(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
With this in mind, Coun Cotton was asked about the possibility of some residents having to wait nearing two years since recycling collections were initially suspended for their return.
“We’ll be looking to introduce recycling on a faster timescale than that,” he said. “We want to get these services up and running very quickly.
“Obviously the food waste we’re piloting at the moment and we’ll look to roll that out over the course of the year.
“But I absolutely get how frustrating this has been for everybody.
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“I’m very grateful to residents for the work they’ve done, whether it’s been taking their recycling down to household refuse collection centres or mobile waste recycling.
“But what we’ve got to do is ensure we reach a negotiated settlement in this dispute so the workforce can come back and work on delivering the best quality services for the people of this city – and that’s absolutely what we’re working towards.”
A previous council report added that the waste service team will investigate wider options to reinstate recycling and green waste “as soon as reasonably practicable”.
The transformation of the waste service was in the past described as an important aspect of the council’s financial recovery and will see collections of household rubbish move from weekly to fortnightly.
Weekly food waste collections and a second recycling bin specifically for recycling paper and cardboard are also set to be introduced in phases across the city from June 2026 onwards.
The transformation of the waste service was delayed last year due to the bins strike dispute between the council and Unite the union, initially triggered by the loss of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role.
Striking workers have claimed they face a pay cut of £8,000 – the council disputes this figure and insists that a fair offer had been made.