Action began in January, before an all-out strike in March. For locals, the flytipping, vermin, maggots and mess are taking a huge environmental and emotional toll
It’s an icy cold winter morning, and 80-year-old Mohammed Bashir is armed with a broom, tackling the large pile of rubbish that has accumulated outside his terraced house in Small Heath, Birmingham.
This has become an almost daily activity for Bashir since the city’s bin strike started 50 weeks ago and, like many in the city, he is starting to lose patience.
“Look at the condition we’re living in. I’ve lived here for 64 years, I came to this country at 16 – I’ve never seen it this bad. I’m sick,” he says. “I try my best. At the end of the day, I just want my area clean. That’s all I want.”
Piles of bin bags, broken glass and furniture have been dumped on the street outside his home and the mosque next door. Across the road, scorched pavement shows where a pile of rubbish was recently set on fire.
