PROMISES were made to work with residents to solve an ongoing issue with recycling collections

People living in Azalea Road and Granville Road in Blackburn who have not had their recycling bins collected on several occasions have sent a petition to a council.

Around 40 homes in Azalea Road and two homes in Granville Road have been affected with people saying their bins have not been collected on and off since July.

Residents said rubbish has built up in the back streets and they have been told by Blackburn with Darwen Council the bins were not collected due to lack of access because of the way cars are parked on the road.

A spokesman for the residents said this was not the case and cars have not been parked on the road on collection day and bags were still left on the side.

Council environment chief, Cllr Jim Smith, said he would write to Biffa about the matter and promised to work with residents to find a solution.

In a report sent to the council, contractor Biffa, which is responsible for collecting the rubbish, had logged four occasions of no access to bins, as well as more than 100 incidents of contaminated bins – which includes incorrect waste being put into recycling bins.

The report shows Biffa cannot always use narrow-bodied vehicles to get to the street.

Its waste disposal and kerbside collection contracts, worth more than £6.2million per year, runs out in April. From May the council will take over the work and it has ordered a new fleet of narrow-bodied vehicles to use.

A council spokesman said: “The recommended action is to remind residents what to place in their grey bin, ensure Biffa collection crews wheel the bins to their vehicles if they cannot drive it down the road, as well as asking customers to move their wheelie bins to a collection point.”