Birmingham Council tells residents to 'wash hands' amid bin strikes as 'mountains of rubbish' line the streets

9 April 2025, 17:00 | Updated: 9 April 2025, 20:11

Members of Unite in Birmingham launched an all-out strike last month in a dispute over pay and jobs, which is causing misery for residents who say they face a public health crisis.
Members of Unite in Birmingham launched an all-out strike last month in a dispute over pay and jobs, which is causing misery for residents who say they face a public health crisis. Picture: HealthyBrum / Getty

By Alice Padgett

Birmingham Council has told residents to 'wash hands regularly', 'wrap their food' and 'use two bin bags' amid five week bin strikes leaving rubbish piling up in the streets.

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HealthyBrum, Birmingham Council's public health service, released the advice on social media.

"Due to ongoing waste & recycling service industrial action, rubbish has accumulated across Birmingham," they wrote.

"Residents may be impacted in different ways, however the public health risk associated with household waste can be reduced by taking precautions."

This comes as the council declared the dispute a major incident last week in a bid to increase collections of bin sacks.

But with an estimated 17,000 tonnes of rubbish now lining the streets, the city has become a breeding ground for vermin.

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On Monday, LBC's Tom Swarbrick travelled to Birmingham to investigate the chaos caused in England's second city by the ongoing strike.

The government claims the decision to declare a major incident will led to more crews and vehicles being brought in to deal with the mounting piles of rubbish on Birmingham's streets.

But walking through the streets of Birmingham, Tom described the "mountains" of rubbish, the "disgusting, fruity smell" as he met with locals who said they feared for their children's safety as trash continued to pile up.

"Every street we've been down is covered, spilling out with rubbish," Tom said.

"What has really struck me is just how completely unhygienic this is, this is going to be a health hazard."

Tom met with a rat catcher, who has been visiting at least 17 houses a day since the strike began.

"We are on month two of these bin strikes now and there is no end in sight," Tom continued.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has described the council’s decision to declare a major incident as “disastrous” and pledged to "defend Birmingham's refuse workforce to the hilt."

LBC investigates Birmingham's bin strike

Speaking outside Birmingham City Council House, leader John Cotton said he was "determined to take every measure we can to address the very serious scenes we now see play out in certain parts of our city".

He added: "It's regrettable that we have had to take this step, but we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham.

"I respect 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.

"Unless we declare 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."

Residents have complained of hoards of “rats the size of cats” running riot across the city amid the dispute.

Birmingham Bin Strikes See Rotting Rubbish Piled High In The Street
Birmingham Bin Strikes See Rotting Rubbish Piled High In The Street. Picture: Getty
Birmingham Bin Strikes See Rotting Rubbish Piled High In The Street
Birmingham Bin Strikes See Rotting Rubbish Piled High In The Street. Picture: Getty

Earlier this week, the Health Secretary warned Birmingham could soon become a hot-bed of disease with the strike leaving bin bags “piling up” and rats “crawling around”.

“I certainly am concerned about the public health situation and the poor conditions we’re seeing for people in Birmingham,” the Health Secretary told Times Radio.

“As the bin bags are piling up, we see rats and other vermin crawling around.

“That’s not good for public health. I think this dispute has escalated way out of hand.”

He said it is “totally unacceptable” that the dispute has seen bin lorries blocked from leaving the depot.

“I understand industrial disputes happen. I understand people have the right to withdraw their labour. That’s part and parcel of industrial relations in our country.

Birmingham Bin Strikes See Rotting Rubbish Piled High In The Street
Birmingham Bin Strikes See Rotting Rubbish Piled High In The Street. Picture: Getty

“But what is not acceptable is allowing these sorts of unsanitary conditions to occur on people’s streets.

“I’m urging Unite to do the right thing, stop blocking the bin lorries, and allow people to get out there and clean the streets for the people of Birmingham who suffered for far too long.”

The city council declared a major incident on Monday March 31 because of the impact and talks between local government and Unite are continuing in an effort to break the deadlock.

Talks continued this week, but still a settlement seems far from being reached.

Following the latest round of talks on Tuesday, a Birmingham City Council spokesperson, said: “The talks with Unite were productive, but there are still a number of issues to resolve. We are looking forward to continuing with negotiations.”