Misleading Birmingham Mail article and Sandwell’s increase in recycling rate to 53% by food recycling

Misleading Birmingham Mail article and Sandwell’s increase in recycling rate to 53% by food recycling

Interesting, but misleading story in todays Birmingham Mail about recycling rates in Sandwell. See http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2012/08/06/sandwell-soars-in-recycling-league-table-thanks-to-wheelie-bins-97319-31555911/

The story is by a journalist, Jane Tyler, for whom I have the greatest respect and I can only assume she has been forced to report this utter nonsense from the Birmingham Labour Party who are intent on imposing 3 wheelie bins on EVERY household in Birmingham.

The article says that Sandwell has increased its recycling rate from “39per in 2011 to 53 per cent by June of this year”. The article goes on to claim that this success is due to “introducing wheelie bins to all households”.

A quick search of the Sandwell website tells a completely different story.

Have a look at this webpage from Sandwell Council on 20th April 2012 http://www.sandwell.gov.uk/news/article/1674/major_boost_for_recycling_rates

In the Sandwell Council article it says “Household recycling rates in Sandwell have shot up by 25% during the last 12 months.”

No where in the article does it mention wheelie bins. But what it does give credit to is “Earlier this year we completed the roll out of food waste recycling bins to all homes with kerbside collections.”

If we move forward to 26th July and the press release that the Birmingham Mail article is based on http://www.sandwell.gov.uk/news/article/1831/recycling_rates_on_the_rise_in_sandwell Again no where does Sandwell Council mention wheelie bins. But it does say is “All homes in the borough with kerbside collections now have weekly domestic, recycling and food waste collections, while fortnightly garden waste collections now run throughout the year.” Notice the WEEKLY collections for recycling and food waste.

The Birmingham Mail has simply regurgitated a story produced by the Birmingham Labour Party which has been totally dishonest with the facts.

Sandwell Council has significantly increased its recycling from 39% to 53% by the introduction of a food recycling scheme and increasing the recycling frequency for kerbside collections. The previous Birmingham conservative-Liberal Democrat administration was in advanced talks on the construction of an anaerobic digester which would rot down food waste and create methane to be recycled for heat generation. The introduction of the food waste recycling scheme alone would have increased Birmingham’s recycling rate from 32% to above 50%, since about 40% of residual waste is food waste. Also by recycling food waste, the issue of cats and foxes ripping open black sacks would end, since the sacks would no longer contain the food waste that attracts cats and foxes.

The present Labour administration has abandoned this food recycling scheme.

The previous Birmingham Conservative-Liberal Democrat administration was also going to bid for government money to increase the recycling rate for paper, plastic, metals and glass from fortnightly to weekly in areas with high recycling rates.

The present Labour administration has abandoned this proposal to move from fortnightly to weekly recycling collections.

So beware of wheelie bin nonsense reported in the Birmingham Mail in the coming weeks. The Birmingham Labour Party is going to try and spin residents into believing that imposing 3 wheelie bins per household for every household is right and proper and that it is YOU that is wrong to think otherwise.