A pungent smell of rotting garbage fills the air. Bulging sacks of trash pile high, some spilling their festering contents. And, with vermin plaguing parts of the city, at least one resident has claimed to have been bitten by a rat.

With its heritage as a manufacturing powerhouse and its proud civic history, Birmingham likes to call itself Britain’s second city.

Right now, it’s the nation’s garbage capital.

A standoff between striking refuse workers and city officials has left an estimated 17,000 tons of trash piled on city streets that is attracting rats, foxes, cockroaches and maggots. On Monday, Birmingham’s municipality declared it a “major incident,” which allows it to access more resources from the government and other nearby regions.

Some garbage collections are still taking place and the city has managed to keep many areas, including the center, clear of trash. But in several residential districts and parks it was highly conspicuous on Wednesday.

In Small Heath, a neighborhood two miles from the city center, black plastic bags had piled up at the end of some streets, and people from other areas had added to the mess by dumping their uncollected garbage.

“I have lived in England for 36 years. I have never seen a situation like this before,” said Javad Javadi, 51, a delivery driver who is originally from Iran, as he walked past overflowing plastic trash bins that lined Malmesbury Road.