Private waste collector inundated with rubbish jobs in Birmingham (2025)

A private waste collector has told how he can't keep up with enormous demand after bin strikes caused mountains of rubbish to pile up in Birmingham.

Matt Casey, 39, said he has received six times more call-outs over the last five weeks as frustrated residents in the city take matters into their own hands.

Mr Casey, who runs HULK Cleaning and Clearance Services, said he is called out as many as 30-times a day just to remove bin sacks which are building up on residential streets and attracting huge rats.

Prior to the strike action, which began on March 11, he said on average he was called out five times a day to clear mainly industrial debris.

Now his and his team of eight collectors drive around Birmingham clearing household waste at £2.50 a sack.

He told MailOnline: 'Business has been great over the last month, I'm not going to lie, it's been really, really busy. We're always on the go.

'It's a simple issue really, either someone is going to pay to have rubbish collected privately or they're not and at the moment the number of people doing so has increased dramatically.

'I get up to 30 calls a day just from people wanting the sacks of rubbish cleared from outside their home because it's becoming a health hazard.

'That's on top of the other callouts myself and my team are doing, including skip removal and industrial clearances.

'Before the bin strike, myself and each collector would do five jobs a day mainly and it was usually removing large industrial items.

'Now the majority of the calls are from householders or landlords wanting the streets outside their properties cleared.'

While business is booming, he has maintained the same prices for his collections, resisting the temptation to hike them.

He continued: 'We charge £2.50 for each standard refuse sack or £10 for five sacks. There's a minimum of four sacks for each collection. Those prices have stayed the same, I've not put them up to take advantage of the strike.

'It's not my intention to make money out of what has become an epidemic but this is the business I'm in - any waste collector will say the same.

'I do have sympathy with the striking bin collectors but I also have a lot of sympathy for the people of Birmingham who are having to pay twice to get their rubbish removed - seeing as refuse collection is what people pay council tax for.'

Mr Casey said the boom in business was being slightly off-set by the increased cost of dispensing with the waste.

He said he and other private waste collectors were able to use Birmingham City Council's Veolia refuse centre, for which he paid £78 per tonne of material.

However, the council ended private trade waste using the site at the start of the year. Now they have to use other refuse centres, most of which charge £180 per tonne.

More than a million people have been affected by the strike action, which is feared to roll into the summer.

Huge mounds of rubbish have started to pile up in some areas of Birmingham, sparking health fears and enticing giant rats - said to be the size of cats and dubbed the Squeaky Blinders.

Some 90 bin crews staffed by agency workers have started going out on collection rounds rather than the usual 200 and while residents have been urged to leave rubbish out as usual they've been warned it may take longer for it to be collected.

Unite - the union which is representing the striking workers - said the industrial action was triggered by the council's decision to remove the role of waste recycling and collection officers from its fleets.

They were responsible for safety at the back of a refuse collection lorry, the union said, and werea 'safety-critical role'.

It warned the move would lead to affected workers losing £8,000 in their salary, as well as cutting off a 'fair path for pay progression'.

Bankrupt Birmingham City Council - which is being overseen by government commissioners with plans to cut hundreds of jobs and sell off assets to help balance the books - say 170 staff members were affected by their decision to remove waste recycling and collection officers.

The authority said about 130 of these had accepted roles in other parts of the council on the same pay grade, while others have opted to train for more advanced roles.

Only 17 staff members - the council argued - could lose the maximum amount from their salary, which it says is £6,000, not £8,000.

Birmingham itself has been at war with binmen since 2017. Workers staged two walkouts in 2017 and 2019, leading to scenes like those seen on the streets of the city today.

Leader of the Labour council, John Cotton, said on Thursday that images of the strikes 'pained me personally'.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: 'As a Brummie, that is not the image I want this city to be projecting - that’s why I’m taking every step I can as leader to bring this to a conclusion.'

There are concerns that the strikes could spread to other parts of the country if other union chapters decide they are no longer happy with their pay.

Onay Kasab, national lead officer at Unite, told BBC Radio 4's today programme earlier this week: 'If the pay of public service workers is attacked in other local authorities, then we shouldn't be surprised when people take action.'

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has pleaded with Unite to accept a 'significantly improved offer' from Birmingham to end the strikes - but her plea fell on deaf ears as members called the offer 'inadequate'.

Unite regional secretary Annmarie Kilcline, one of the leading figures behind the action, has blasted the council for failing to offer 'her lads a good deal'.

However, she lives some 50 miles away in Beeston. The Mail has previously revealed that none of the top union figures involved in the Birmingham strike actually stay in the city itself.

'The lads rejected the latest offer by a 98 per cent majority. It was not a good deal,' she said earlier this week.

'I need the council and the Government to get around that table to make a sensible offer to re-start the bin collections.

'Our lads are going to be losing £8,000 from their salaries because of the inefficient way Birmingham City Council, which is bankrupt, has handled things.

‘Our members are not wealthy and this will have a massive effect in them.'

She added:‘Refuse collections are still going out in certain areas to benefit some.'