Action Briefing Oct 2006 - Nov 2006
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Recycling Update

It's been a busy summer for our recycling campaigners. In May we launched a postcard for people to sign with the catchphrase ‘Birmingham’s total rubbish……is 557,442 tonnes per year and rising’. It calls for big improvements to the recycling services in Birmingham that has left us languishing in 323rd place in the league table.

Over the summer we aimed to get over 1000 postcards signed to send a strong message to the Council about support for recycling. This seemed like a pretty tall order back in May. Armed with our postcards (and a novelty recycling-themed ‘rubbish’ lucky dip) we bombarded events across Birmingham all summer. From Farmers’ Markets, to festivals, from high streets to schools, people signed up to voice their support for recycling. We were amazed at the positive response from start to finish. Face-to-face campaigning can be daunting and full of knock-backs but people couldn’t sign up quickly enough. It confirmed our thoughts that this is a really popular issue that people want to take tangible action on.

In September, we reached our target of 1000 cards. We plan to present them to councillors in the autumn. In fact, the Council has been making plans too during the summer. We hear that the kerbside pilot scheme will be extended to 100,000 homes this October and by 2008 this will rise to 360,000 households. Metals, paper, plastics and glass plus green waste will be collected from homes. This is a great step forward but does it signal the end of our campaign and has Birmingham City Council become a ‘friend of the earth’ on recycling? Well, our postcards call for full coverage of all 400,000 households and for an even greater range of materials to be recycled so there’s still work to be done. Also, we’re keen to see that best practice is followed for the collection and processing of the materials. There’s also an important job of raising awareness of the scheme and nurturing support for it.

Our postcards will give the Council a clear signal that recycling is an important issue in Birmingham. It should encourage them to develop the best scheme they can and to deliver what they have promised. A huge thanks to everyone who signed up to our campaign and to every volunteer who devoted time and energy to this summer’s campaign.

Kate Nancarrow