Really, Sam? The garbage strike as an allegory for the continual build-up of garbage in the kid's life and the fact that they can come off of strike to remove the garbage from his neighborhood but he can never do anything about his situation so the garbage will just continually build up until he dies, never clicked for you? The sense of hopelessness and despair that is the kid's life, the routine of everyday life that is all he will ever have to look forward to. The crushing of his dreams as represented by the treatment of his friends, or was it his, pet mouse. The grime, the dirtiness, the despair, the longing for a better life that you know will never come, and knowing that life is just a short bus ride away but it's a bus ride that will always end in a return trip for you? None of that clicked for you?
P.S.: Not being condescending, a quick read through sounded that way to me, but it's late, I'm tired and that was the best way my brain could formulate my point at this time, so no worries, Sam, my intentions or manner wasn't meant to be condescending at all.