Birmingham third most toxic city in the UK, according to fresh study

A new study has revealed that Birmingham is the third most toxic city in the UK, with one of the highest carbon emission rates, number of power stations and number of substations when compared to other UK cities.

The study, conducted by property buyers Good Move, analysed carbon emissions, active power stations, sewage treatment plants, electrical substations, pollution levels, registered landfill sites, annual average daily flow of traffic and recycling levels across 10 of the most populous cities in the UK.

Birmingham has been found to have the lowest rate of recycled waste than any other UK city, recycling less than half of Cardiff’s 58.1%.

As well as a low recycling rate, Birmingham also has the second highest carbon emission rate, beaten by Central London’s 10,726 kt.

It’s not all bad news for Birmingham, as the city has no landfill sites, compared to Bristol’s staggering six. Birmingham also has a moderate annual daily flow of traffic, with 29,298 vehicles travelling down major roads in 2017 – a small amount compared to Cardiff’s 34,017.

To analyse how toxic our cities really are, Good Move created Is Your House Killing You?, which demonstrates how everyday objects around our homes and even the city we live in can have a dangerous effect on our health and wellbeing.

Results are based on a points system. Each city is ranked on carbon emissions, active power stations, sewage treatment plants, electrical substations, pollution levels, registered landfill sites, annual average daily flow of traffic and recycling levels.

The full top 10 cities in order of most toxic to least toxic can be viewed below:

1. Leeds

2. Glasgow

3. Birmingham

4. = London & Manchester

6. Bristol

7. Cardiff

9. = Nottingham & Liverpool

10. Newcastle
To view the full data set, click here.