A BLACKBURN childminder went potty when she was asked by the council to give parents their children's used nappies back at the end of the day.

Lisa Birch said she was told to give parents their children's rubbish back at the end of each day after complaining about Blackburn with Darwen's new recycling scheme.

The new collection scheme means the wheelie bin at her nursery in Craven's Brow is now only emptied once a fortnight.

Mrs Birch said: "The recycling programme is a fantastic one and as someone who has recycled for years I applaud the council.

"But I had to contact them and ask for another bin as my non-recyclable bin is overflowing after one week, let alone two.

"I was told that as a business I would have to pay £100 a year for the pleasure of having two grey bins, or pay the council to remove extra bags weekly.

"I was also told to give parents back their own children's waste. I asked the council if they would like an eight-hour-old dirty nappy thrust at them at the end of a day.

"Just what planet is the council on? I think they need to get out into the real world."

But a council spokesman said Mrs Birch had not been following the collection rules properly. He said: "Businesses have a statutory duty to dispose of their waste correctly.

"Instead of paying the £100 annual charge for their commercial waste the nursery could buy bags ad hoc and this would then be dealt with as commercial waste but avoids the annual lump sum.

"The nursery had been putting their waste in domestic wheelie bins, which is not permissible under waste legislation."

Opposition Tory councillor Paul McGurty said: "To even suggest to a childminder that she give rubbish such as dirty nappies back to parents is not only ridiculous but pathetic.

"If this customer pays to have business waste collected, then that's exactly what the council should do. I think everyone agrees that we all need to recycle more, but the way its been implemented is nothing short of dictatorial."