Action Briefing Aug 2004 - Sept 2004
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Rubbish Response!

Quite the opposite in actual fact! A big thank you to everyone who completed one of the green recycling questionnaires we sent out with the last issue of Action Briefing.

To date we have collected a total of 107 completed questionnaires both from our supporters and from members of the public who visited our stall at the Environmental Village on World Environment Day (see Action Briefing June/July 2004, pages 1 and 3).

On average 88.4%% of respondents said they would recycle some or all of the following materials: paper, glass, plastics, tin can, drinks cans, garden waste, kitchen waste and batteries.

Paper, glass and plastic were the joint most popular materials with 98.1% of respondents saying they would recycle them. The second most popular material was tin cans (92.5% wanted to recycle these), followed by drinks cans (86.8%), batteries (83%), garden waste (78.3%), kitchen waste (72.6%), and finally, medicines (69.8%). In the comments section of the form, respondents expressed a wish to recycle more types of material, particularly plastics, and wanted weekly doorstep recycling schemes in order to cut car journeys to recycling banks.

Kerbside collection, as opposed to recycling banks, was by far the preferred recycling method for all material types apart from batteries and medicines, and there was broad support in the comments section for waste minimisation and recycling over incineration.
Fortnightly collections were most favoured for all materials except kitchen waste (weekly collection most popular) and batteries and medicines (monthly collections most popular).

Just 2.8% of respondents indicated that they were 'happy with the current recycling services in Birmingham' with 81.1% saying they were not happy. Obviously it would be unwise to draw conclusions about the whole City from so small a sample as ours but these findings conflict with the Community Strategy Review 2003 (see p3), which claims that in 2003 65% of those questioned were satisfied with the recycling facilities in Birmingham.

Our full response to the Waste Management Strategy Review can be viewed at www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/reports/Waste_strategy.htm, or call 0121 632 6909 for a paper copy.

Kate Nancarrow