Sea of booze as Birmingham bin strike hits Oxford recycling centres

An Oxford Mail reader discovered a sea of empty booze bottles piled up near the bins at the supermarket when she went to drop off her recycling.

Drinkers have taken to abandoning their glass on the floor due to the bins overflowing with the remnants of the festive season. 

The woman said: "I just ventured to Sainsbury’s Kidlington to take my glass, plastic and paper recycling and found the bins are ridiculously overflowing.

"Six glass bins, two plastics and three paper bins - all full, the can bin was okay though.

"Obviously there has beem lots more wine and beer consumed over Christmas than baked beans.

"I'm not sure how long it’s been since it was last emptied but this doesn’t really promote good recycling habits."

Palm Recycling, who run the centre on behalf of Sainsbury's, said the pile-ups were the result of a knock-on effect of a bin strike in Birmingham. 

Four branches of Sainsbury's in Oxfordshire, including the one at Heyford Hill, have been impacted.

The company uses the same collection lorries to serve both Oxford and Birmingham and these have been preoccupied with shifting the mountains of waste in the Midlands city, according to account manager Samantha Lilly.

ALSO READ: Glass and trolleys abandoned in Oxford underpass

She said: "Households in Birmingham haven't had their recycling collected since December 29. 

"Our centres are the only place people can go to take their rubbish so we are currently experiencing a surge in demand. 

"We are doing what we can but it is like Christmas hasn't ended. 

"You normally get a couple of weeks when it is very busy and then it dies down but this year, because of the strike, we have fallen a bit behind."

ALSO READ: New petrol station planned for A34 

The company has organised for an extra lorry to help out with the Oxford and Birmingham rounds and expect the backlog to be cleared by the end of the week. 

The mess has Kidlington is being cleaned up today.