'Our bins are constantly overflowing'

Those who have not yet received their 180 litre replacement bins have been told to continue using their existing bin

A resident living in an authority which has halved the frequency of household waste collections has said her bins were already overflowing.

Linda Newall, from Harriston, near Aspatria, Cumbria, said she had not received a larger 360-380 litre bin and had not heard back about whether she would get one.

From this week, Cumberland Council has cut collections from weekly to fortnightly in the former Allerdale area to bring it in line with others. It said it had received more than 10,500 requests for replacement bins ahead of the changes.

Ms Newall said: "Our bins are more or less constantly overflowing... unless the council gets the bigger bins sorted pretty quick, it's not going to go down well."

Darren Crossley, the council's deputy chief executive, said: "We are really keen to hear from anyone who has struggled with our system, in terms of making enquiries and getting responses, or, anyone who is still out there wondering what to do."

Mr Crossley said the Labour-led council had worked with its customer contact centre, adding he wanted to hear from anyone "if we have missed one or two people along the way".

Linda Newall said the recycling situation was "even worse" than the general waste collections

Those who have not yet received their replacement bins have been told to continue using their existing bin, with an extra two bags of waste also allowed.

The council said people could also be eligible for an even larger bin if they have a big household, young children in nappies or for medical needs.

Carlisle residents and those in the former Copeland area already have their black bins collected on a fortnightly basis.

Ms Newall said: "I'm in a large household and a lot of people around here have large households and our bins are more or less constantly overflowing.

"The recycling is worse because we've got much smaller bins."

Another woman living in the area said: "I don't think it's going to go down well with a lot of residents.

Mr Crossley said the council was "aiming to increase the number of recycle products through the waste system" and was trying to make the service "as efficient as possible".

Westmorland and Furness Council is currently consulting on changes to its bin collections.