Complaints over the lack of spring weather are plentiful from a public starved of sunshine and warm weather. 

But perhaps the cold temperatures are a blessing, considering the mountains of rubbish building up across Copenhagen. 

Likely, the odour would have been significantly more putrid had the weather been warmer. 

The city’s sanitation workers have been on strike for a week now, and piles of rubbish are forming on many streets and back alleyways. 

An eyesore to residents, the immense heaps of rubbish are no doubt a boon to other city dwellers … the rats and birds ripping through bags of trash in search of food. 

“The more rubbish there is, the greater the risk of attracting more rats, which will hide in the trash, eat and even build nests and multiply. And that’s when we have a problem,” Peter Weile, a pest controller, told Ritzau news service.

READ ALSO: Rubbish piling up over sanitation worker strike

A solution on the way?
The good news is that an end to the mountains of filth could be on the horizon.

The sanitation workers are due to meet this morning to discuss whether or not to continue striking or to enter into negotiations with their employer,  Amager Ressourcecenter (ARC).

ARC, owned and operated by the city, has indicated that it wants to enter into a dialogue with the sanitation workers. 

Responsibility for rubbish collection in the capital area has undertaken by companies in the private sector in recent years, but Copenhagen Municipality is in the process of assuming the reins once again.

Sanitation workers in Frederiksberg had also gone on strike in solidarity with their colleagues in Copenhagen, but resumed work again late last week.

Some 500 sanitation workers are currently on strike in the Copenhagen area, protesting over what they say is a lack of co-operation with employer ARC.