‘Rats the size of my arm’: Horrified Birmingham residents plead for end to bin strikes

'Rats the size of my arm': Birmingham residents describe bin strike chaos.Credit: The Independent

Transcript

00:00I'm living in like studio accommodation so like it's kind of okay for me but I feel like

00:10it's kind of it doesn't look good and like the rats are like wandering around and I could

00:15see the pigeons like picking on the like trash.

00:18Were they big the rats?

00:20Yeah that's a big one.

00:21How big do you think they were?

00:23It's like my arm length.

00:24It's for me totally unacceptable that any local authority can fail in having bins collected

00:29it's the most basic of services which I think any resident expects.

00:34There's all the bins outside it's just like you leave to go for uni you can kind of smell

00:40it I'm a bit early on the road but when you go further down it's not great.

00:45It's not something you want to be walking out your house to it's like it's just a constant

00:48reminder of like oh we're just living in rubbish.

00:52You can see the amount of rubbish that is around and it's just it's kind of it's just

00:57disgusting it's off-putting it's not nice to live in and it's just you don't want to

01:01be walking down the street especially as it's getting warmer like the smells are coming

01:04more apparent.

01:05But we manage a number of properties within the area which is well they're within this

01:10area here within Birmingham but also within the Selly Oak student area around the University

01:15of Birmingham.

01:16We've been paying approximately £240 a week to a private collector to empty a couple of

01:22a very very big bins.

01:23Just collect the rubbish I mean I don't know like all the in-depth reasons of why the strikes

01:28are happening and stuff like that but it needs to change like it's the bins it's a normal

01:33part like they you don't want them around just just get the bins gone just get the bins.