Birmingham bin strike: Video shows residents dropping off rubbish at mobile bin lorries

Bin bags which appear to have been ripped open by vermin with rotting food spilling out lay stacked on street corners along with old sofas, beds and building materials.

Fed-up residents dropped off rubbish at mobile bin lorries in Birmingham on Easter Sunday.

Seven bin lorries parked up at Birmingham Central Mosque at 10am on April 20, with cars then entering the site to get rid of their rubbish.

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While some residents took advantage of the Easter Sunday mobile collection point, tonnes of fly-tipped waste was still present around the city.

Rubbish piled up on Colville Road , Balsall Heath, Birmingham.Rubbish piled up on Colville Road , Balsall Heath, Birmingham.
Rubbish piled up on Colville Road , Balsall Heath, Birmingham. | Anita Maric / SWNS

One resident said: “It’s madness to me to have so many bin men operating these mobile collections when the worst rubbish is piled up on the streets. Birmingham is a grim place to be at the moment but it seems plain daft to have bin men twiddling their thumbs when there’s piles of rubbish on the streets.”

Birmingham City Council is still locked in a bitter war with the Unite union over pay and conditions.

Bin crews, who say a change of job roles will leave them up to £8,000-a-year worse off, have been striking since March 11 and say they will continue until September.

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Volunteers from Project Clean Sparkhill were also out in force cleaning the streets over the bank holiday weekend.

City environment boss Councillor Majid Mahmood said: "We have prioritised our street cleansing teams to remove fly tips that have accumulated on the city’s streets.

"An operational decision was taken to divert resource from one of our mobile household waste centres next week to fly tip removals. This will remain under constant review to ensure we continue to deploy our resources to the areas of greatest need.

"Our approach will be evolving as we work tirelessly to clear up our city."

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