Mountains of discarded Christmas trees, tinsel, food packages and wrapping paper have littered the streets of Birmingham following a year of devastating bin strikes. 

Disgusted residents have told of their fury after bins were left brimming with overflowing waste just a couple of days after December 25.

Piles of black bin bags, including Christmas leftovers, have been left to rot on the streets in the Small Heath and Bordesley Green areas.

With the long-running industrial action understood to be ongoing, families have said they have no idea when the rubbish will be collected.

It comes after nearly a year of strike action, which kicked off in January when Birmingham City Council bin workers walked out in a dispute over pay and jobs.

Locals said overflowing wheelie bins and fly-tipped waste are making life 'hell' as the strikes look likely to continue into the new year.

Father-of-one Paul Dalgliesh, 44, of Small Heath, said: 'I was dreading the festive period and within a day after Christmas the rubbish got worse.

'It just makes you feel ashamed, you look around and you are embarrassed to live in this city at the minute.

Piles of bin bags and rubbish on Grove Cottage Road in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, today 

Trees and festive decorations are dumped outside on Palace Road just days after Christmas 

Rubbish takes over a green area on Grove Cottage Road this morning 

'To see rats running around the place just makes you depressed. And at this time of the year, you want the complete opposite.'

He added: 'It has been hard to get into the festive spirit when you look out your door and just see the streets a complete mess. Everyone is fed up.'

Another local resident, who did not wish to be named, said: 'I'm asthmatic and feel really bad walking past it.

'There's loads of rats but we just have to live with it. It is such a mess and we don't know what to do.

'People have been doing their best but others who aren't as considerate just come along and fly-tip.

'It has been hell and it has now nearly been a year, when will it all end?'

One resident, Gail Burgess, said: 'You now get fly-tipping on top of the bins strikes because nobody does anything about it.

'The shops just dump their rubbish out.'

Unite said members were planning a third 'megapicket' in the city next month and warned action could continue beyond May's local elections. 

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