The irritating smell of rotten trash fills the air. The bulging bags of garbage piles are high, some spilling their celebrations. And at least one resident claims he was bitten by a rat as pests plague parts of the city.
Due to its legacy as a manufacturing powerhouse and its proud civic history, Birmingham prefers to call itself the second largest city in the UK.
Now it is the country's garbage capital.
The conflict between strike trash workers and city officials left an estimated 17,000 tonnes of garbage piled up on city streets that are captivating rats, foxes, cockroaches and maggots. On Monday, Birmingham's municipality declared it a “major incident” and allowed more resources to be accessed from the government and other nearby areas.
Some garbage collections are still in progress, allowing the city to avoid garbage in many areas, including the centre. However, in some residential areas and parks, it was very noticeable on Wednesday.
In a small Heath, two miles from the city centre, black plastic bags were stacked on the edges of several streets, adding to the confusion of people from other areas by throwing out uncollected trash.
“I lived in the UK for 36 years. I've never seen this situation,” said Javad Javadi, 51, a delivery driver from Iran, walking past the overflowing plastic trash cans lined up on Malmesbury Road.
“Of course, at night, if you come after 10am, you'll see a lot of rats,” he said. “So many cats don't chase.”
Birmingham garbage piles have a political foul smell in the UK parliament where Governance Labour Party pastor Jim McMahon warned of public health risks, and Birmingham MP Preet Kaur Gill wrote, “They wrote that they were bitten by rats.”
Opposition lawmaker Julian Lewis compared the situation with the infamous 1978 garbage collection strike during James Callahan's industrial unrest under the labor government. This period became known as the “winter of dissatisfaction,” and the following year the Labour Party lost its general election and led Margaret Thatcher into power.
However, the conflict is limited to Birmingham, with more than 350 workers starting a restricted strike in January, escalating to an indefinite full-scale strike last month.
“We cannot tolerate situations that are causing harm and pain to our community,” Birmingham City Council leader John Cotton said in a statement.
Union members claim that a restructuring plan promoted by the local government will leave around 150 workers up to 8,000 pounds a year (approximately $10,400). The council disputed this, saying, “There are 17 staff members who could lose their maximum amount (over £6,000).
Both sides remain deadlocked, but the results were evident on Malmesbury Road, where black plastic bags were loaded at both ends of the street and on the alleyway along the way. Some despaired residents began throwing away their trash.
When he loaded around 20 bags into his car, Shakeel Ahmed explained that trash had accumulated for three weeks in his home and in his garden shed.
In driving to the waste facility, Ahmed, the retired train manager, left the windows open, apologised for the smell of the car, and added that he would be professionally cleaned after leaving the garbage. “If I get mad, it's not going to solve the problem,” he said philosophically.
Tisley's garbage and recycling centre, a few miles southeast of the city centre, spoke similar stories about foul smells, pests and damage to the city's reputation.
“You can't open the windows because of the smell. It's trash everywhere. That's ridiculous,” said 43-year-old Rubina Yakub. Her car was new, and she had her trunk lined up in seats before loading up ten bags of garbage. “Look at my car!” she said, pointing to the mess that the trash had created.
No option is available, such as school cleaner Robert Shaw, age 60. “What the council said to us is we can take it to Tyree,” he said. “But if you don't have a car, how are you supposed to take it?”
The crisis has forced residents of some cities to be creative. Sitting in the sunlight at Morris Park, waiting to gather three children from school, Tasnimatafader told me how her husband called relatives to find bottle space for the family's trash. His mother passed by.
Then, when the trash truck arrived one morning around 7:30am, residents came out of their homes and loaded the truck from the street, said Tafader, 34.
At another depot in Tyree, the strikers gathered at the gate in front of the garbage truck that departed, and delayed the journey by walking past them at a hundred yards of snail pace.
Lee Haven, a member of the Unity Labor Union, disputed the city's claim that workers “don't have to lose money,” claiming that planned changes could cost around £600 a month when household bills are rising sharply.
The origins of the conflict came in 2023 when Birmingham City Council declared itself inherently bankrupt as a result of an equal pay incident brought by workers and began implementing widespread cuts in services.
As part of the restructuring plan, the municipality wants to scrap one position in the garbage team known as Waste Recycling and Collection Officers that it says does not exist in other municipalities. Workers in that role can take voluntary redundancy or move to another position.
Simplifying the wage structure is extremely important, and maintaining its role risks “scattering large future wage liability,” but rejected a request to explain exactly why.
“I feel like I'm a scapegoat,” Haven said. “I think any normal working class family in this country will understand that none of them can afford that £600 loss.”
Residents of some city sympathize with garbage collectors as they lament the condition of their city.
“I don't blame them because I don't think they should cut their wages,” said Zeenat Hussain, 53, Health Services Manager at Saltry. “What they're doing is an important job.”
