Furious Birmingham residents threaten to empty rubbish onto streets over collections row

Fintan Starkey
Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:05:59 +0000

An 82-year-old Birmingham resident has warned furious neighbours will tip their household waste into the street if the council fails to address what he describes as unacceptable refuse collection services.

Tony Kaye, who lives on Edward Road in Balsall Heath, claims rubbish bins in his area overflow on a weekly basis, with proper collections occurring only once every three to four months.

The pensioner has threatened direct action should conditions worsen to levels seen earlier this year.

"The residents here are up in arms about this. If the bin system gets as bad as it was in January, we will empty it in the middle of the road," he told Birmingham Live.

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"It hasn't reached that point, but if it gets to it, we will stop all the bloody traffic and empty bins in the street."

According to Mr Kaye, council dustcarts have been visiting the street but only removing overflow bags while leaving the actual bins untouched and full of old waste.

"On Tuesday, April 7, they took the overflow bags of rubbish but left the bins," he explained.

"Clearing up overflow without collecting bins put us back at square one again. It defeats the whole point, it's the bins that need emptying."

The situation has attracted wildlife to the area, with foxes now appearing on the road for the first time.

Mr Kaye also reported signs of rodent activity, noting overflow bags showed evidence of being gnawed through by vermin.

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"We've got bin drivers visiting our road, looking and driving off without doing anything," he added.

Birmingham City Council has disputed Mr Kaye's account of the collection frequency.

A spokesman for the authority stated Edward Road has a scheduled Friday collection day, with rubbish successfully gathered on both April 10 and 17.

The council said this information was confirmed through vehicle analytics data.

Regarding the overflow rubbish that Mr Kaye mentioned being removed on April 7, the council explained this would be classified as side waste.

A spokesman clarified that street cleaning crews collected this additional waste on Tuesday April 14.

The dispute highlights a significant gap between the pensioner's experience and the council's official records, with Mr Kaye maintaining that collections happen only every three to four months while the authority insists regular Friday services are being completed.