Sacks of trash are piled on the side of roads, as rats "as big as cats" roam in the streets, and a pungent smell of rotten garbage fills the air. The disruption is not of a small town in a far-off third world country, but of the United Kingdom's second largest city, Birmingham.
Residents in Birmingham are desperately trying to get rid of an estimated 17,000 tonnes of trash that has piled up since nearly 400 garbage collectors ramped up a strike last month. In the city of over 1.1 million residents, a rare garbage truck visit brings crowds of people rushing into the road, their arms full of rubbish.
With rubbish bags sweltering in the spring sun, rats, foxes, and cats have started clawing through mounting heaps of litter, as many people in Birmingham feel the city has reached breaking point. Mounds of ripening rubbish have also attracted worms, maggots and vermin.
Videos from the city show huge rats scurrying around in the streets in broad daylight as piles of garbage bags line the landscape.
The second largest city in England has become a city of rats!
— زکیه ابراهیمی (@Zakyee391618) April 5, 2025
City service workers have launched widespread strikes that have turned Birmingham, the second largest city in England, into a rat's nest and garbage dump.#England #vest pic.twitter.com/CLW0E2bInG
A video is also doing rounds on social media showing bin men running to save themselves as rats chase them.
The bin men ran faster than the rats—turns out, garbage day is a two-way horror story! pic.twitter.com/s4jJRhDIb8
— Apna Birmingham (@ApnaBirmingham) April 4, 2025
The Strike
The refuse collectors are striking in Birmingham over the city government's move to eliminate a certain role within their ranks. The industrial action has been rumbling on since January, but increased to an all-out strike on March 11. Only a faction of the city's garbage collectors are still working with fewer than half the usual number of garbage trucks currently operational.
Unite, the union representing the workers, says some staff employed by the council stand to lose 8,000 euros ($10,400) per year under a planned restructuring of the refuse service.
Wayne Bishop, a 59-year-old driver and union member, told AFP that he would lose his position under the shake-up and be around 600 euros per month worse-off. He said the job was gruelling work and deserved to be paid fairly.
"We can't afford that for our toil," he said. "We go out all weathers, we was out in Covid, we just can't afford to lose that with the cost of living going up."
Birmingham City Council, however, disputes the union's account of the restructure and insists it has "made a fair and reasonable offer" to workers. The council's website says that "no worker need lose any money" and the staffing changes were crucial to "become financially sustainable" and modernize the waste collection service.
City Councillor Mohammed Idrees said he was also worried about Birmingham's reputation.
The city is known for its industrial heritage and rich multicultural makeup -- but he said the strike was "creating a very bad image throughout the world."
Rodent Problem And Health Risks
Due to piling waste on the streets, the city has been infested with rats. Locals complain that rodents are entering their homes and cars, chewing through their valuables, costing them thousands.
"I'm afraid to open my front door, they're everywhere," said Mary Dore, a resident of the city's Balsall Heath area, told The Guardian.
"They run out from under the cars when you get in, they're going in the engines. They chewed through the cables in my son's car, costing him god knows how much. There's one street I can't walk my dog because they come running out of the grass and the piles of rubbish. One time I screamed,' she added.
"There's rubbish everywhere, rats everywhere ... (they're) bigger than cats," Abid, another resident, told CNN.
Residents are also complaining that pest-infested piles have started affecting their health.
"It's scary -- I'm worried for my kids," said Abel Mihai, 23, who lives in the Saltley area of the city. Mihai told AFP that every time his three-year-old son goes out, "he vomits from the smell."
The piles of garbage have also emerged as a fire hazard. "There was a bin fire on the end of our street the other night," Mihai added.
The quarrel also plays into wider problems in British society -- from stretched local council funding to sweeping inequality.
Residents in poorer areas of the city in England's Midlands region told AFP they felt neglected, and questioned whether the trouble would have spiralled in wealthier parts of the country.
Political Stink
The garbage problem has now begun to cause a political stink for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Confronted by the opposition in parliament on Wednesday, he admitted the situation in Birmingham was "completely unacceptable" -- but insisted his government would provide extra support and stood by the council, which is run by Starmer's Labour Party.
Residents are tired of waiting, though, and some have taken matters into their own hands.
The special waste truck visit on the street in Saltley on Wednesday was arranged by members of a community centre who contacted a local councillor for assistance.
Organiser Hubaish Mohammed, 26, said the Hutton Hall group had helped hundreds of people lug their rubbish to the temporary collection site, where residents load their waste onto trucks staffed by non-striking workers.
Staff said they'd helped collect around 45 tonnes of waste in a single day.
"It's been a graft but we're here to look after the community," Mohammed said. "We had to take the initiative."
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
