Cliff Notes
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Volunteers from the Birmingham Central Mosque collected 24 bags of rubbish on Easter Sunday, highlighting community initiative amidst ongoing litter issues exacerbated by bin strikes.
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Residents report overflowing bins and unsightly streets, with many voicing support for striking bin workers whose pay is under dispute, while others express frustration over the lack of service.
- Birmingham City Council has declared a major incident due to public health concerns from the rubbish build-up, and the government has engaged military planners to assist with the crisis.
Birmingham bin strikes: How volunteers are taking action to avoid ‘drowning in rubbish’ | UK News
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“Back in the day… every neighbour would literally scrub the doorstep,” said Rashid Campbell, surrounded by people picking up litter on the side of a busy road in Birmingham.
“If we got that attitude back, half of this problem would be gone,” he told Midlands correspondent Shamaan Freeman-Powell.
Mr Campbell is part of a volunteer litter-picking team from the Birmingham Central Mosque.
In just two hours on Easter Sunday, 12 members of the team collected 24 bags of rubbish from two Birmingham streets.
“If we don’t [litter-pick], we’re just going to be drowning in rubbish,” he said.
Six weeks after the city’s bin workers went on strike, bins are overflowing and rubbish is littered across pavements, despite the council saying it has cleared more than 20,000 tonnes of waste over the bank holiday weekend.
“Some of our bins have been taken but that cannot be said about the streets,” said resident Latifat Abdul Majed Isah.
“The streets are still very dirty, still very unpalatable and unpleasant to see.”
Residents were able to drop off rubbish this weekend at a mobile collection site outside the mosque but despite the inconvenience of the strikes, some still voiced their support for the bin workers.
“No one wants to live next to a mound full of dirty rubbish and rotten food, it’s not nice. I know people will blame the bin strikers but what would they do?” asked resident John McDonough.
“How would you react if your company says to you; ‘By the way, you’re going to lose £8,000 a year’, what would you do?
“You’d do what they’re doing, and that’s just right.”
Unite, the union representing the workers, says around 150 of their members will have their pay cut by up to £8,000 a year under an offer made by the council, which it rejected last week.
The council says only 17 workers will be affected and will lose far less than Unite is claiming.
“As a council taxpayer, I think that we pay for a service and we’re not getting that,” said Arfan Talib, who was dropping off his recycling outside the mosque.
“I think the government needs to step in, to be honest, and sort this out.”
Rubbish collections in Birmingham have been disrupted since January, before the all-out strike started last month.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on 31 March in response to public health concerns.
Last week, the government called in military planners to help tackle the mounting piles of rubbish.
