"Mountains of Trash, Rat Infestations, and 'Infected' Streets: A Year of Struggles in a UK City Battling Binmen Strikes"

BIRMINGHAM residents are still being terrorised by rats and staring at mountains of rubbish one year on from the bin strikes.

Locals are furious and confused as to why after paying their and endless arguments there is still no clean up.

Resident Elaine Thompson, 82, lives on the roadCredit: Roland Leon It has been one year since the bin strikes startedCredit: Roland Leon Rubbish and overflowing bins on a street in BirminghamCredit: Roland Leon

There seems to be no end in sight – with locals saying the rats are growing in number and in size – and fears some streets constitute a serious hazard.

Council bosses challenged workers to “come back to work” – and said the strike has gone on for “far too long”.

Stretched agency workers are currently collecting waste since workers voted to stage the strike on 365 days ago today.

But parts of the city have seen recycling services for entire year.

worker Michelle Whyne, 46, lives a few steps from a mass build-up of splitting, black rubbish bags at the end of her street in Bordesley Green.

Food waste pours out onto the pavement alongside children’s toys and household furniture.

She said: “It is no exaggeration to say that rats have destroyed my new car.

“It wouldn’t start and the garage said under the bonnet was covered in rat and mice faeces -they had started to chew through the engine.”

She lives on Carlton Road, a long residential street and says that large households with overflowing bins just dump their excess bags at each end of the street.

Most of the houses have stickers declaring, “We support the Brum bin workers” on their bins and Michelle is in no doubt where her sympathies lie.

“The bin workers are doing a tough job but the Council want to cut their pay and then pay agency workers way above the going rate to do a lesser job. It’s madness to me.”

Resident Monica Nicholas is fed up with the councilCredit: Roland Leon Residents are sick of staring at mountains of rubbishCredit: Roland Leon The rats are “enormous” and a “health hazard” – with one pictured last AprilCredit: PA Stickers showing support for the striking binmenCredit: Roland Leon

One woman, whose house is immediately adjacent to the irregular dump, said she’d had rats in her kitchen.

Landlord Fiaz Anagib, 44, said: “The rats round here are enormous. They get into the food outlets, into peoples’ homes.

“This is a health emergency. The Council have put up a sign saying no-one should put rubbish out until Wednesday evening but they do nothing to enforce it.”

At the other end of the street next to Bordesley Green Road, the rubbish is even worse.

One mum, getting into a taxi with her baby, said “I don’t even like stepping out onto this street. It smells, it feels infected.

“There is poop in with the rubbish.”

Up the road in Small Heath is another residential street buttressed by rubbish dumps at each end.

At one end of Holmwood Road, the bags pile up around two fridge freezers and residents are at a loss as to what they can do.

Monica McNicholas, 69, an exam invigilator, said, “I am just fed up with ringing the Council. It is disgusting and embarrassing when you have visitors coming.”

‘”I don’t know why we are paying Council Tax which is about to go up again.

“I see rats going in and out of the drain by the rubbish dump. I totally blame the Council.

“You can’t cut peoples’ pay by 8,000 pounds and expect them to accept it.”

The problem on Holmwood Road, a cul de sac, are exaggerated by the busier Grange Road at the top.

That is so narrow that residents don’t have bins so have to bag their rubbish and many then dump it in the space at the end of Holmwood Road.

Locals say that their best defence against rodents is a one-eyed moggy called Sassy who patrols the splurging rubbish on the street.

A rat carcass to the side of the rubbish is testament to his success.

A 61-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, said, “I used to like sitting out the front with a coffee and a fag of an evening but I don’t dare now.

“The rats are rife. You see them everywhere. It makes me sick.

“It’s why I have adopted Sassy as my own. She’s really a street cat but she’s my one defence against the rats.”

Holmwood Road, Small Heath, one year on from the strikesCredit: Roland Leon The all-out strike began on 11 March 2025Credit: Roland Leon Local residents are fed up with the councilCredit: Roland Leon Nicholas Smith says “there is no excuse”Credit: Roland Leon

Apart from the burgeoning piles of rubbish at the ends of the road, the street itself is clean.

Isir Abdullahi, 44, a mother-of-three, said “Sometimes my husband goes out with a broom and brushes the street but there is nothing you can do about such a pile as that.

“We pay 160 pounds every month in Council Tax so you wouldn’t expect to live with this.”

Retired worker Elaine Thompson, 82, said “It has been absolutely awful. The rubbish does get removed but 24 hours later it will be back again.

“I think some people are being lazy and taking advantage of the situation. We get a collection once a week but not for .

“They have been telling us over and over to recycle to save the planet but now I’ve got a burning bin in the back and I do that at night.

“It’s the only way to get the stuff clear.”

Former military man, Nicholas Smith, 54, said, “People see a little collection point and then add to it.

“There’s no excuse. They could put it in a car and take it to the tip but, no, they’d rather just dump it.

“Personally I blame the Council and the bin workers. They are getting a wage but say it isn’t enough then they go on strike and stop working.

“I would sack them all and start again.”

Abdi Ali, 56, a taxi driver, said, “Wherever you go in Birimingham, outside of the centre or the very wealthy areas, it’s the same – a health hazard, really disgusting.”

And worker Ahmed Hirgi, 52, added, “This street used to be very beautiful but now it is different.

“I blame the Council but also the residents. People have to take responsibility.”

Cllr Majid Mahmood, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: “The bin strike in Birmingham has gone on for too long.

“I’m sorry for the disruption this has caused, and I would hope Unite would also want to apologise. It isn’t good enough and we want to end the dispute.

“But let us be clear, the council has made a series of offers to Unite to end the strike, but they have all been rejected.

“My message to those still taking industrial action is simple: come back to work as I want you to be part of this new and improved service. Our door remains open.”