About 720,000 leaflets were sent out at a cost of £15,000
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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.
The council, which initially said it was a "generic skyline" and no mistake was made, later admitted the error.
The leaflet meant to thank residents for helping the city achieve its recycling targets early.
A TALE OF TWO BRUMS
Birmingham skyline
Birmingham, UK, has a population of 1,006,500 while its US namesake has 242,820
Birmingham, UK, was one of the original centres of the industrial revolution and was known as the City Of A Thousand Trades
Birmingham, AL was founded in 1871 and named after the English city
It also became a major industrial centre
The US city saw riots and protests during the civil rights movement of the 1960s
But underneath the heading Thank You Birmingham!, it showed a photo of the southern US city.
City council officials initially claimed 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."
He said only one city resident complained about the error, and there are no plans to reprint the leaflet.