Birmingham council shows off wrong city in recycling campaign

Birmingham City Council has admitted sending out leaflets which showed its US namesake's skyline instead.

About 720,000 pamphlets praising Brummies for their recycling were sent around the city at a cost of £15,000.

But instead of showing landmarks such as the Rotunda and the new Selfridges building, it showed downtown Birmingham, Alabama, instead.



City council officials initially claimed no mistake had been made and the "generic skyline [was] intended to symbolise an urban area".

But a spokesman has now admitted the authority was at fault. "Birmingham is immensely proud of its recycling record and this leaflet has helped to get the recycling message across to thousands of our enthusiastic citizens over the last 15 months," he said.

"We accept that the wrong photo was used, but the text and detail contained in the leaflet is wholly correct which is the most important message."

With news video.