Birmingham regularly comes bottom of the league for recycling in the Midlands. The city only recycles around 30% of its household waste. This is compared to over 50% in other areas of the Midlands and over 60% in Wales.
Instead of making good use of the resources in our waste, most of it is going up in smoke in the Tyseley Incinerator. The amount of energy the incinerator produces is less than we could produce by making more efficient use of these resources. Waste is a rubbish fuel!
The current waste system is completely controlled by Veolia, who are paid by Birmingham City Council to dispose of our waste. Veolia owns all our waste and has no incentive to make better use of these resources.
As well as being a poor use of resources, burning waste in the incinerator does nothing to help the city’s air quality problem, and is one the city’s major emittors of carbon dioxide. This affects our health as well as contributing to climate change.