Bins emptied at last as weather eases

Tons of rubbish was cleared from streets across the West Midlands as waste bosses put on extra collections over the weekend to help clear the backlog caused by snow.

Binmen were out all day Saturday in Wolverhampton, Dudley and Birmingham picking up from the worst affected areas, with Sandwell also making a Sunday collection. Wolverhampton made the decision late last week as some homes in Tettenhall and East Park still had six weeks' worth of uncollected waste. Dudley and Birmingham put in extra collections on Friday as well as going out at the weekend.

Binmen in Birmingham have scheduled a further collection of bulky waste this Saturday.

Fortnightly pick-ups of green recycling boxes and white bags were called off for two days across Wolverhampton just over a week ago due to the extreme weather which led to hazardous driving conditions.

Residents had been told they would have to wait until the next runs on January 22 and 23 for the recycling to be picked up.

Instead binmen began collecting the special boxes, containing cans, bottles, plastics and cardboard, as well as bins of general household waste, at 7am on Saturday.

Councillor Barry Findlay, said: "Priority was given to those areas that had not had a recycling collection for five to six weeks. We achieved an 80 per cent collection rate even in the bad weather which was better than many other authorities." He said it had not been possible to notify householders in advance of the Saturday collection. Any rubbish that was not left out would be collected as soon as possible.

Dave Green, from Birmingham City Council said: "We carried out collections where possible during the severe weather spell but inevitably there was a backlog across the city."

Dudley Council resumed normal collections on Friday. Any missed recycling rounds will be carried out on the next scheduled collection date. Wyre Forest District Council has also increased refuse collections although rural collections were still severely disrupted on Friday due to snow.