It’s understandable that people living in poorer areas of Birmingham feel frustrated as their rubbish piles up high, while wealthier households can pay to have rubbish removed privately (‘The posh areas get cleared’: bin strikes illustrate Birmingham’s wealth gap, 18 April). What is less understandable is that, as a householder in one of these luckier areas, in reality I haven’t had to pay for the rubbish to be removed because we have experienced very few missed collections. We have put our bin out throughout the strike and it has usually been collected.
We haven’t paid for private collection and I am not aware of any neighbours doing so either. It is evident that the pain of the bin strike is not being spread evenly and you have to wonder why.
Penny Smith
Birmingham
• I live in north Edgbaston (which is very much not posh), so I see both sides. I think another reason for posher areas being cleaner is that people are more likely to have a garden and a compost heap, meaning less waste overall and less chance of bags being ripped open. Perhaps they also have space to store their recycling until collections restart, whereas people in flats or smaller houses are putting it out – creating more waste to collect.
Sam Baker
Birmingham
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