With over 17,000 tonnes of waste on Birmingham’s streets, the city council has declared a major incident. Strike action has delayed collections for weeks. Emergency plans are now in motion—but the clean-up could still take time.
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00:00Mountains of rubbish are still clogging Birmingham streets and now the council
00:05has formally declared a major incident. The move comes after weeks of
00:09miscollections linked to strike action. The disputes began in January. It's
00:15centred around the council's plans to scrap a role known as the Waste
00:19Recycling and Collection Officer. Unite the Workers' Union says this would force
00:24staff into lower paid roles. The council insists that no one will lose money and
00:28that the new structure offers the same grade and pay. Overflowing bins have led
00:33to concerns about rats, fire hazards in tower blocks and growing frustration
00:37across the city. The council's emergency plan allows for 90 refuse vehicles to be
00:43deployed daily but due to picket lines at depots it says only one vehicle per
00:48hour is currently managing to get out. Council officials say that once the
00:52fleet is fully operational it could take up to three weeks to restore regular
00:57collections and another three to clean up the wider mess left behind.
01:01Declaring a major incident allows the council to bring in help from external
01:05partners including nearby authorities and government agencies. It also clears
01:10the way for 35 extra vehicles and crews to begin flight removals and street
01:15cleansing. Other measures already in place include extended opening hours at
01:20local tips, seven day mobile collections and more caretakers in tower blocks to
01:25help tackle fire risk from built-up refuse. But full recovery will rely not
01:30just on vehicles and staff but on a resolution to the underlying dispute. The
01:34council says it's doing everything possible to minimise risk and restore
01:38services. For now though much of the city remains stuck under a growing pile of
01:43rubbish.