Volunteers picked up litter from the streets near the organisation’s HQ The Warehouse on Earth Day, 22nd April, a global initiative to mobilise individuals and organisations into collective action to protect the planet.
Cans and bottles were kept separate from other waste in the collection round, the bags of waste at the end revealing that roughly half of street litter is recyclable, said Birmingham Friends of the Earth lead waste and recycling campaigner John Newson.
"We thought we would do something – despair isn’t helpful," Newson said. "This is all about looking ahead beyond the strike and encouraging people to keep their waste separate”.
Birmingham City Council has told residents to hang on to their recycling since industrial action began in January, because of the lack of resources to make pick-ups during this period, reducing what was already one of the UK's lowest recycling rates to effectively zero.
Newson contrasts Birmingham's poor record on recycling - the lowest of any unitary authority in the UK, with just 23% of household waste processed - to Wales, rated second out of 48 countries for how much it recycles in a report last year by Eunomia Research & Consulting and Reloop.
"We not only have to get back to where we were before the strike - we should be better than that," Newson said. "This is an opportunity to rethink waste in Birmingham. We need to be more efficient with people and resources.
“It would be very good if people can join a regular litter picking group to clean up their neighbourhood.
"Earth doesn't need our rubbish - nor does the atmosphere, because disposal generally means burning it".
Gilbert Sekelani, a Friends of the Earth member for the past four years who took part in the litter pick, felt it was important to help with the clean-up. “There was a lot of rubbish: it looked like it hadn't be cleared for a long time. It was encouraging seeing the area changed into a clean place," he said.
Currently studying for a physics course himself, Sekelani advises others to look into learning and training in the growth areas of sustainability and green energy. "People should educate themselves and focus on things that will be part of their future," he said. “Go to college and get an apprenticeship”.
Other Earth Day events around Birmingham included activities for children and families at Thinktank at Millennium Point - such as hands-on discovery of marine wonders, make-your-own origami plant pot, and a session about the museum’s Ichthyosaur skeleton. Community engagement and education charity ecobirmingham has run fundraising events including a scavenger hunt and static cycle challenge, in aid of its Project 900 campaign to help Brummies discover walking, cycling, and public transport routes across the city. Ecobirmingham will be holding an upcycling jewellery workshop, creating items from old bike parts, at SustainaBrum’s Earth Day sustainable market at Attic Brewing Company in Stirchley on Sunday 27th April.
Lea Forest Primary Academy in Lea Hall is celebrating having bee hives installed on its roof using National Education Nature Park funding. Aldersley High School in Pendeford, Wolverhampton, held lessons on Tuesday on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and plastic pollution.
Aston University business and sustainability mentor Gareth Williams, who ran the UK’s first B Corp solar installer Caplor Energy and is a former vice-chair of Solar Energy UK, said he welcomed litter picks and planting sessions as an accessible way to get people interested in climate action.
He would like to see more celebration by policymakers of energy infrastructure developments such as this week’s opening of the 200km, 504MW Greenlink Interconnector under the sea between Pembrokeshire and Ireland. “The Government needs to try and be a bit more vociferous - make a noise about the benefits, rather than let other people get all the traction,” he said.