By Alexander Brock

Copyright birminghammail

Heaps of bin bags, litter in the street, dead rodents on pavements – the impact of Birmingham ’s bins strike is still clear to see as it reaches a bleak milestone. Today, September 11, marks six months since the strike went all-out, leading to further misery and disruption for Brummies across the city. The industrial action has brought with it turbulence and tension, whether it’s angry outbursts during council meetings or ‘megapickets’ outside bin depots . READ MORE: Birmingham bins boss quizzed over city’s ‘appalling’ recycling rates A tour around some of Birmingham’s neighbourhoods this week reveals there are areas still blighted by rubbish issues despite the Labour -run city council’s waste collection improving compared to the height of the strike. One such place is Cherrywood Road in the Bordesley Green area, where the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) was greeted by a large dead rat lying next to the pavement as rubbish was cleared from outside homes. “Residents have frequently contacted the council requesting clean ups and the collection of black bags but without success,” resident Gerry Moynihan claimed. “The sight of scurrying rats is now commonplace and dead rats are frequently removed by residents – how much more can residents suffer?” One local in Cherrywood Road told the LDRS that rubbish repeatedly piles up outside his home, adding his grandson no longer opens the window due to the amount of flies. Heaps of waste surround a burnt, wrecked van further down the road while bin bags, litter and fly-tipping, including fridges and toilets, continues to blight nearby streets, as well as Henry Barber Park. One passer-by described the scene in the park, where broken glass covers parts of the pavements, as “horrendous”. But Bordesley Green is not the only area struggling with rubbish as the bins strike drags on into the autumn. Over in the student area of Selly Oak , close to the University of Birmingham campus, recycling bins filled with waste continue to line the street while a mattress had also been dumped by the side of a road. The next stop on this week’s tour was Balsall Heath , where an enormous pile of waste on the corner of Cannon Hill Road and Edward Road attracted a revolting stench and concerns over rats back in the spring. While that particular rubbish heap has since been cleared, our reporter found himself having to step over a dead mouse lying in the pavement as he made his way down a residential road. This week also saw Liberal Democrat councillor Baber Baz, who represents communities in the east of the city, angrily argue that fly-tipping had left the city “blighted”. “Street after street, community after community, is suffering from dumped waste,” he said. “Residents in Yardley West and Stechford Ward deserve clean, safe streets, not neighbourhoods scarred by rubbish.” Flats elsewhere have reportedly been suffering during the summer too, with Coun Sir Albert Bore claiming in July that “numerous” blocks in Ladywood had reportedly not seen collections for “weeks and weeks and weeks”. “Some of the ones my colleague and I were dealing with a week or two ago had not had a collection for nine weeks,” he said. “I’ve just received an email from a primary school who’s had eight weeks of missed collections,” Conservative councillor Alex Yip added at the time. “They’ve complained about maggots, they’ve had to pay for other people to come in and clean it.” The bins strike, which was triggered by a dispute between the city council and Unite the union, continues to cause disruption in numerous ways. Recycling collections, the garden waste service and pest control services, except for rat treatments, all remain suspended as the industrial action rumbles on. The recent news that Unite has pledged to fight on and continue the strike, potentially through Christmas and up to March next year, led to fresh calls for a resolution and waste service improvements. The council’s cabinet member for environment, Coun Majid Mahmood, was quizzed just this week about new recycling figures, which show just 15.45 per cent of rubbish in the city was being recycled during the first quarter of 2025-26. He told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that they “weren’t surprising” due to recycling collections being suspended during the strike. “It also shows the ineffectiveness of the current recycling service before the industrial action,” he said. “This is something we have known for years – the simple fact is we’re not where we need to be on recycling. “That’s why we want to implement our transformation programme.” The transformation of the waste service has been described as a key part of the crisis-hit council’s recovery plan and will see collections of household rubbish move from weekly to fortnightly. Weekly food waste collections and a second recycling bin specifically for recycling paper and cardboard were also set to be introduced in phases across the city from April onwards. READ MORE: Birmingham bin dispute warring sides ‘not speaking’ after six months of all-out strike But these changes were delayed due to the impact of the industrial action. “I’m sure upon implementation, we will have the best recycling rate in the region,” Coun Mahmood said this week. He continued that in readiness for the waste service’s transformation, the council has one million containers in stock awaiting delivery and has commissioned 151 new vehicles. “[The] ICT platform is going to be deployed in the next six weeks and we have established over 1,100 new routes,” Coun Mahmood added. Birmingham City Council said previously that its contingency plan means that all properties in the city should receive one collection every week and that street cleaning crews were being deployed to hotspot areas. “When fly-tipping occurs, we act as quickly as possible,” it also said recently. “Our crews clear hundreds of fly-tipping reports each week; this is in addition to the work our neighbourhood crews undertake to clean up across the city. “We are committed to prosecuting fly-tippers whenever possible, and we encourage residents to provide reports and evidence for us to do so.” The bins strike was initially sparked by the loss of the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) role. Striking workers have raised concerns about pay while the Labour-run council’s leadership has repeatedly insisted a “fair and reasonable” offer had been made.