Birmingham City Council website will have improved recycling information

• Apr. 26 by Rachael Giaramita (0)

Birmingham City Council hold their hands up to the lack of information available on the website to businesses wanting to recycle and identify areas they are beginning to change .

In the article previously featured ‘Birmingham’s local businesses feel ignored by the council on recycling issues‘ we raised areas of recycling that local business men and women felt were being over looked.

The council’s response

Birmingham Recycled met with Birmingham City Councils Keith Budden manager of Birmingham Environmental Partnerships, and Kevin Mitchell Head of Waste and Fleet Management.

Business recycling is a key area that seems to be overshadowed by residential schemes, however the council did state that they are putting together strategies with Birmingham Partnerships.

These organisations are funded by the council to help support and re-educate businesses to recycle, and conduct in an environmentally friendly manner.

As for the limited information available on the Councils website, Kevin Mitchell stated:

‘This is something we are aware of, and we know that the website can be a little sparse in terms of information available.

However we are working to improve this and are putting together a new site as we speak. Within the next few weeks we will have a new, modern, and easy to access website up and ready.’

We also identified a lack of support for independent businesses such as Paperchasers, who work to help businesses reduce their waste emissions, Kevin Mitchell also added:

‘We had recommended Lorna’s (of Paperchasers) previous business (Brumcan) as this was a non profitable business. However we can not be seen to promote or favor one business over another.’

Then going on to state that if they were to promote or recommend an organization like Paperchasers to a business it would be unfair to other companies in terms of competition.

‘We simply tell prospective businesses that are looking to recycling our pricing plan, and then instruct them to look in the Yellow pages for other services.

If we did recommend one business over another, and then the company is not happy with the services they receive they would hold the council responsible, so we opt not to recommend at all.’

The issues

Businesses in the local area of Erdington felt as though their needs in terms of recycling were being ignored, and there wasn’t enough support or information available.

The Birmingham City Council’s website is predominately centered on residential schemes and services, with little information available to business recycling strategies.

Independent business such as Paperchasers, who operate to help businesses recycle and reduce waste emissions felt that the council were not supportive in terms of recommending the initiative to businesses.