Solihull bin strike explained - when will it take place?

Waste collection crews operating in Solihull are to take part in industrial action in September. The borough’s waste contractor, Veolia, said it is involved in a dispute with staff who are members of the GMB trade union.

The strike is set to take place between Monday, September 4 and Friday, September 8. It will mean some big changes to how rubbish and recycling is collected from households as there will not be enough staff to provide all the normal services, Solihull Council has said.

The strike will affect waste collection across the whole borough. The council has planned temporary collection arrangements as it attempts to mitigate the impact of the reduction in services.

Collection arrangements for Monday, September 4 – Friday, September 8 are as follows:

• Household rubbish – No collections
• Garden waste – No collections
• Recycling – Council advice is to: “Put your recycling out as normal. If your recycling has not been collected by 5.00pm on the day after your collection, please take your containers in until your next scheduled collection.”
• Missed collections – No return collections. Council advice is to bring containers in until next scheduled collection
• Bulk waste – The booking service will be available but there will be no collections during the week of the strike
• Sharps – No disruption to services – booked collections unaffected
• Container deliveries – Reduced delivery service

Solihull Council has said it will be prioritising recycling services as these collections are less frequent than household waste and storing large quantities of recycling can be difficult for some properties. Additional bags of rubbish will be collected the following week.

Collection arrangements for Monday, September 11 – Friday, September 15 are as follows:

• Household rubbish – Normal collections as scheduled and additional bags collected
• Garden waste – No collections. Staff will be redeployed to support other crews
• Recycling – Normal collections as scheduled

All other services that week will run as normal. The following week (September 18 – 22) will see all services return to normal, but there will be no additional garden waste collections – only what is in the green bin.

Bickenhill Household Waste Recycling Centre will be open during the industrial action with the normal booking service in operation.

More information can be found on the council’s website, which says: “We are sorry for the inconvenience that the disruption will cause. We hope for a swift resolution from ongoing negotiations between Veolia and members of the GMB union.”