Birmingham’s waste crisis has been declared a ‘major incident’ as the ongoing bin strikes reaches its third week, resulting in ‘mountains’ of rubbish and the appearance of ‘cat-sized rats’
Birmingham’s waste crisis has resulted in huge piles of rubbish strewn across the streets, sparking major hygiene concerns, as the bin strikes enter its third week.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident over the ongoing waste dispute, claiming picket lines were blocking its depot, and were preventing waste vehicles from collecting 17,000 tonnes of rubbish. The council pledged to provide an added 35 vehicles, increased fly-tip removal, and more street cleansing after declaring the emergency. The bin strikes sparked a terrifying wave of “cat-sized” rats over excess food waste on the city’s streets.
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The council said it would explore neighbouring authorities’ support, and that the Government was helping in managing the incident. It also dismissed the threat of Birmingham becoming a “third world city” – which is how residents have described the effects of the strikes, which have transformed their streets into a place of nightmares.
Huge dumped heaps of rubbish were left throughout the city yesterday, after the industrial action hit a new landmark. Members of the workers union Unite began all-out strike on March 11, after a dispute over pay and job losses. Locals said it created multiple “war zones” within their city, which now resembles a “third world country”, and that they are experiencing fear for their health.
Residents previously claimed to see “rats the size of cats” brazenly running outside their homes, as well as stray cats and foxes that were ripping open bin bags containing food. Alarming photos showed ‘mountains’ of bagged waste surrounded by flies and vermin.
Emil Laursen, 34, who is a dad-of-two from Balsall Heath, said that a “broke” Birmingham was transforming into a “joke” city when the bin crisis struck. He said: “We can’t believe it has been allowed to get to this point, it has become a public health issue for sure. We are fast transforming into a third world city. The place is becoming a joke.” He added the city had “worked for years to shake off this label of being a dump”, recognising Birmingham’s efforts.
“But just look at the streets now. It has literally become a makeshift dump. We’re back to being laughing stock,” he continued. “We’ve seen some amazing community spirit with people helping to clear the mess but others have just dumped bags anywhere and everywhere. Some are taking no pride in the area and the affect has been these scenes of absolute carnage, like a war zone. The whole situation is a mess, quite literally”.
Mazar Dad, 56, is a former senior manager at a Birmingham waste depot and now works for the charity Mecc Trust in Balsall Heath. He said: “The problem has got tremendously worse week by week. The rat population has increased, you’ve got cats and foxes roaming the streets ripping open bags for food”.
“It is just appalling there has been no adequate contingency plan put in place and now we have tonnes of waste on the streets. There’s been all the talk of it costing millions in equal pay claims but nobody seems to be talking about how many millions it will cost just to clear the streets up. If the strikes ended tomorrow it would still take months and months to shift the rubbish caused by this fiasco”. He then explained that there are “all sorts of implications,” such as “health issues as it gets warmer. You’ll see even more rats. And then there’s the economical impact on the city too”.
“We have elected members and people in highly-paid jobs managing these services so it’s disgraceful it’s been allowed to come to this”. After running a depot a few years ago, Mazar recalled the 2017 strikes and how “the council put new job roles in place, but they have just been terribly mismanaged since. We definitely need central government intervention, I cannot believe it has been allowed to get to this stage”.
Mumtaz Khadim, a butcher at Al Bodr supermarket in Balsall Heath, said: “I think it’s ridiculous, somebody needs to come and pick this up. As a community we are all together as one but nobody is helping us out”. He highlighted the children going to school who have to witness the horrific mess, saying “we have children here going to school and they have to see all this. The situation is just no good for anybody”.
John Cotton, a councillor leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “It’s regrettable but we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham”.
He added that he “respect[s] the right to strike and protest, however actions on the picket line must be lawful and sadly the behaviour of some now means we are seeing a significant impact on residents and the city’s environment”. He added that “unless [the council] declares a major incident and deploy the waste service’s contingency plan, then we would be unable to clear the backlog of waste on the streets or improve the frequency of collections”.
This declaration being made as of yesterday followed after Cotton concluded, saying: “I would reiterate that we have made a fair and reasonable offer to our workers which means none of them have to lose any money and I would urge Unite to reconsider their position”.
Unite have claimed the major incident declaration as an “attempt to crush any opposition to attacks on jobs, pay and conditions”. General secretary Sharon Graham appeared to agree as she said: “Birmingham council could easily resolve this dispute but instead it seems hellbent on imposing its plan of demotions and pay cuts at all costs. If that involves spending far more than it would cost to resolve the strike fairly, they don’t seem to care”.
Urging the council to rethink an offer, she ended her statement by saying: “We can only conclude that this massive pay cut for hundreds of refuse workers is only the start and this is really about stamping out any future opposition to its plans to unleash austerity 2.0 on Birmingham”.