Reason for change
Why is Birmingham City Council removing the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role?
We are committed to creating a modern, sustainable and consistently reliable waste collection service. This proposal enables us to fulfil our commitment to improving the Waste Service and comes after careful consideration.
This change is part of the waste collection service restructure aimed at improving the quality of service delivery, ensuring our workforce is set up to meet the challenges of delivering a modern waste service and adhering to the Environmental Act 2021.
All affected staff have been given the opportunity to move to alternative roles at their current grade, train as Drivers, take voluntary redundancy or work as Loader with pay protection.
Will health and safety be impacted by the removal of the Waste and Recycling Collection Officer role?
The whole team is accountable for working in a safe and responsible way. None of the roles either past or present make any specific reference to there being a lead person responsible for health and safety as all members have their duties referred to as the following:
“To comply with all relevant Health and Safety legislation, policies, guidelines and requirements including Safe Working Practices, Risk Assessments and the use of PPE.”
The staffing and ways of working have been fully risk assessed, and safe systems of work established. Significant risks are documented, communicated to the crew members and mitigated through appropriate training and processes.
All operatives are empowered to report accidents, incidents, and near misses. These figures are captured in a management system enabling trends to be analysed and future training identified.
How do you make sure health and safety measures are kept up to date?
The service has a dedicated Health and Safety Manager to oversee and review safe systems and practices. They ensure continuous improvement and compliance with health and safety standards.
The driver and team leader has control of the vehicle and therefore control of the way the service is delivered. Introducing the new vehicles with 360° cameras and other technology will support with safe working as well.
The new vehicles come equipped with advanced safety features, including a comprehensive camera system to improve crew visibility and operational safety while working on Birmingham’s streets. Additionally, the vehicles feature low-level access points to make ingress and egress safer and easier, reducing the risk of crew injuries and enhancing overall working conditions.
Why are the changes to recycling happening now?
The changes are being made due to a statutory requirement under the Environmental Act 2021 to provide waste collection services so you can better separate your food waste, glass, plastics, metals, paper and cardboard from your general waste for recycling.
Birmingham's recycling rate is 22.9%, which is the lowest of any unitary authority, other than Liverpool. The government has set a recycling target of 65% by 2035.
The amount of 'unusable' recycling we collect has increased from 11.1% in 2019 to 2020, to 30.6% last year (2023 to 2024).
Recycling is unusable if it is mixed with items that:
- cannot be recycled
- should have been sorted into a different container
- have not been cleaned properly
Page last updated: 2 April 2025
