£7.2 million investment in greening Birmingham’s streets

A fleet of Mobile Household Recycling Centres (MHRCs) is set to roll out on the streets of Birmingham as part of the council’s effort to achieve cleaner streets.

Birmingham City Council has said that the four MHRCs will each feature three vehicles: a regular refuse collection vehicle for waste with no other use, a van for taking away items that can be reused by charities and a wagon with multiple compartments, enabling people to drop off waste for recycling by material type – just like at a conventional HRC.

The MHRCs will initially be deployed in areas that rank highly in the fly-tipping league table, poorly on environmental cleanliness surveys, and low for take-up of the council’s paid-for bulky waste services.

During the pilot project, which represents £1.4million of a £7.2million investment in street scene services, each of the council’s 69 wards will receive at least one visit from a MHRC in the next year. An assessment will then be carried out to decide if the scheme should continue, be modified or other options pursued.

Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “Cleaner, greener, streets are an understandable expectation of the people of Birmingham. We’re grateful for the work done by residents to keep their areas clean, and this is all about the council doing everything it can to play its part in delivering on one of the key priorities for people in this city. That’s why we have assembled a bold programme of activity, supported by investment, to tackle some long-term and deep-rooted issues affecting our neighbourhoods.”