Parts of Birmingham remain overwhelmed with uncollected waste as the bin strike enters its sixth week. More than 1.2 million residents are living through the fallout of a long-running industrial dispute that has left bins overflowing and streets strewn with rubbish — but not everyone in the city is feeling the effects equally.
As the UK’s second-largest city and biggest local authority, Birmingham covers over 400,000 households. Yet, as time has passed, a growing contrast has emerged between different neighbourhoods. In inner-city areas like Balsall Heath and Sparkbrook, waste is piling up, while in wealthier suburbs like Harborne, wheelie bins are neatly lined up with little sign of disruption.
Dispute Escalates
The dispute began with one-day walkouts in January, after members of the Unite union were told some workers would be downgraded and face pay cuts. Tensions escalated on 11 March, when over 300 workers launched an all-out strike. Unite says it would call off the strike if the council agreed to a one-off payment and gave guarantees against future pay reductions.
Talks between the council and the union stalled again this week, meaning no resolution is expected before next week.
For the first three and a half weeks, striking workers used delaying tactics at Birmingham’s main waste depots — slowly walking in front of lorries to prevent them from completing collections. With only around 10% of daily collections taking place, more than 22,000 tonnes of waste had built up on the streets by early April.
A Tale of Two Cities
The effects of the strike are most visible in Birmingham’s most deprived wards — Small Heath, Sparkbrook, Ladywood — where Victorian terraced housing is densely packed and many families don’t have cars to transport waste to tips. The result: towering piles of rubbish, infestations, and a growing sense of frustration.
Semir Said, senior outreach project manager at Green Lane Mosque in Small Heath, described “mountains of rubbish” and rats “feasting” in the streets. The mosque has become a community hub for waste disposal, with council wagons stationed outside and volunteers helping residents unload rubbish.
Further out, at Woodgate Valley Park on the edge of the city, queues of cars snaked for over a mile as residents waited to offload waste. With everything dumped into the same trucks — recycling, general waste, metal — some described the situation as “carnage.”
Community Efforts and Frustrations
Naz Khan, who helped clear rubbish during the 2017 strike, said people from other parts of the city were now bringing waste to already overwhelmed areas. “A lot of people are using our areas to do a lot of fly-tipping,” he said, calling the issue a clear “postcode problem.”
Sadia Khan, chair of Friends of Sparkgreen Park, said litter picks were becoming futile. “It feels like the litter and fly-tipping are coming back twofold. It’s depressing.” Her group had hoped to clean the park before Easter, but the scale of the mess made it difficult.
Alexandra Giddings, who lives with her 12-year-old son in Ladypool Road, described a “horrendous” smell that forced her to keep windows shut despite the warm weather — not ideal for a home already affected by damp and her son’s chronic asthma. “I want to go out for a walk. Now, I don’t want to because the smell’s horrendous.”
Progress and Pushback
Since the start of April, police have cracked down on picket line tactics by threatening arrest, allowing more non-striking and agency staff to resume work. Around half of the bin lorry fleet is now operational, and with help from Army logistics experts, the council says the backlog of waste should be cleared by this weekend. Uncollected rubbish is now down to under 5,000 tonnes.
However, many residents are still sceptical. The disparity between neighbourhoods has reignited accusations of a two-tier waste system — one that favours affluent areas over poorer ones. Unite strikers acknowledge the issues but warn that council plans for fortnightly collections will only worsen things.
Striker Dave, speaking directly to residents, said: “We’re residents too. We really apologise… and we’re going to make every effort to come back to work as soon as possible.”
Still, many residents remain haunted by the phrase that emerged from this crisis: “rats the size of cats.” It’s a line that may stick with Birmingham long after the strike ends.