What Happens to our Waste

Birmingham City Council works closely with Veolia Environmental Services Birmingham Ltd, who are responsible for running the Energy from Waste Plant at Tyseley, two Waste Transfer Stations (at Perry Barr and Lifford Lane) and the five Household Recycling Centres on behalf of the Council.

Over 500,000 tonnes of waste is collected from Birmingham households and businesses and the majority (approximately 60%) is disposed of through the Energy from Waste Plant at Tyseley. Birmingham is one of lowest users of landfill in the UK.

The Waste Disposal Service arranges for:

the disposal of waste collected by or on behalf of the City Council within Birmingham

the provision of sites for the public to dispose of their waste free of charge

the safe collection and disposal of difficult, hazardous or toxic waste from domestic sources or found in public places

the recycling and composting of waste

The Energy from Waste plant:

The Tyseley Energy from Waste plant was built by Veolia ES Birmingham Ltd in 1996 to replace an existing 1970s plant and to allow the City Council to reduce its reliance on landfill.

An easily identifiable landmark from the Small Heath Highway, the Energy from Waste plant burned 313,000 tonnes of rubbish in 2006/07, producing enough electricity to power 40,000 local homes.

The plant runs 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and is well within UK and EU standards for emissions; all that is seen coming from the chimney stack is vapour.

The Energy from Waste plant recovers several thousand tonnes of metals each year after the incineration process. The bottom ash, which is what remains in the furnace, is used in road building programmes.

Waste Transfer Stations:

There are two Waste Transfer Stations around the city, at Perry Barr depot in the north and Lifford Lane depot in the south. Here the refuse collection and street cleansing crews tip their waste into bunkers which feed into large vehicle trailers.

These trailers then take the non-combustible waste to landfill and combustible waste to the Energy from Waste plant at Tyseley for incineration. These trips to Tyseley are often at night when there is less traffic to reduce the impact they would have on the already busy Birmingham roads.

The average tonnage of waste handled at each Waste Transfer station each year is:

Perry Barr - 160,000 tonnes

Lifford - 110,000 tonnes