People in Birmingham say they have had to think outside the box amid the ongoing bin strike as getting a slot at a tip is like “winning a lottery”.
The city council declared a major incident on Monday March 31 because of the impact of the strike by members of the Unite union.
Residents said the crisis is leading them to take matters into their own hands.
“We’re distributing it amongst family that live in other postcodes,” said Vanita Patel, a 47-year-old teacher.
Ms Patel, who works in Birmingham and has family there, travels back to Leicester each week, where she lives and ends up taking her family’s rubbish with her.
She said the family also take their rubbish to her sister’s in Sandwell – a district to the west of Birmingham that is administered by a different council and therefore not affected by the strike.
Ms Patel said the strike has also impacted on the school where she teaches.
She said: “The rubbish not being collected has then prevented planting and growing of vegetables in the children’s garden this year due to the increase of rats.”
She added that she does not believe the issue will be easy to solve: “If the rubbish is out there, (the rats) feast on it, they’ll have more babies. It will be a cycle – the rats will continue.”
In other areas, communities are stepping in when they see people dumping rubbish on the streets.
Javed Iqbal, a 55-year-old community activist, described one incident where rubbish had been set on fire outside his house in Alum Rock, two miles east of the city centre.
In a video being circulated on social media, flames and smoke can be seen emerging from a pile of black bags on the side of a residential road.
He called it “disturbing” but said the community quickly came together to clean it up and it is only part of their response to the situation.
“We’ve set up groups like the street watch patrol. Guys to keep an eye out for elderly, disabled, women, mothers with a single parent, mothers who have got no access to vehicles – see how we can assist them to make their place safer,” Mr Iqbal, who is also part of the Alum Rock Community Forum, said.
“What was heartening for me was to see the youngsters – 18 to 24,” he added.
Naeem Yousef, 47, from Small Heath, described how he has been using his work van to remove his and neighbours’ rubbish from the area.
“I’m a gas fitter. What I have to do is I have to take all my racking out, take all my tools out, unscrew all my shelves and get my wheelie bins in. That of my neighbours, that of my dad’s, when they get a slot at the local centre that allows the vans in,” he explained.
“We just came out of Ramadan and Eid, so we’ve generated more rubbish than we would normally do.”
Mr Yousef said: “These bags are going to pick up more of a stink. So we have more maggots.
“You can see the juice flowing out of the bags onto the road. It stinks.
“And then it’s bringing down the areas.
“People are saying, ‘Look at these areas, how dirty these people are’.
“It’s not our fault because we can’t get bookings in the local tips to dispose of our rubbish. It’s like winning a lottery now to try and get a booking.”
He added: “It’s time now that the Government steps in and actually gets this issue resolved for us because we are paying more money for less services and it can’t go on and on and on because this is going to have a dire impact.”
In a statement on Monday, Birmingham City Council wrote: “The daily blocking of our depots by pickets has meant that we cannot get our vehicles out to collect waste from residents.
“I want to thank residents for their continued patience under difficult circumstances and the community groups who have been working hard within their communities to help with clear-up,” added Councillor John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council.
