Birmingham City Council is looking to central government and other bodies to help it clean up a 17,000-tonne waste and recycling backlog.
The local authority declared a ‘major incident’ this week in a bid to tackle an escalating crisis as refuse staff continue to strike over pay and conditions.
Councillors said picket lines were blocking its depots and limiting the amount of material that could be collected in England’s second city.
Waste collection was just 17 per cent of the target of one visit per property in the last full week of March, the local authority said.
Recycling collections have been put on ice while all efforts are put towards reducing the mounting pile of general refuse, it added.
The council hopes triggering the ‘major incident’ status will allow it to work with neighbouring authorities, Westminster and other partners.
Councillor John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “Unless we declare a major incident and deploy the waste service’s contingency plan, we would be unable to clear the backlog of waste on the streets or improve the frequency of collections.”
But Sharon Graham, general secretary of trade union Unite, said: “I urge Birmingham City Council to rethink this disastrous strategy and to find a way forward that doesn’t involve workers and communities having to pay for politicians’ mistakes.”
