A FAMILY of nine today pleaded with council bosses to collect their rubbish and said: "Our wheelie bins can't cope!"

John James, 59, of Queensway, Church, and his ex-partner and children fill about 15 extra bin bags each week which is mounting up, even though Hyndburn Council gave them a second bin to help them cope.

They are worried the pile will carry on growing as long as the council sticks to its rules on waste and only picks up the rubbish he can fit into his wheelie bins.

Now an environmental campaign group has urged the council to look at each case individually - and council bosses promised to try and resolve the problem.

Mr James said: "Since they started the recycling programme the binmen only come once every two weeks to empty these two bins. There's about 15 bin bags extra after a week, so after a fortnight we have got 30. If they refuse to take them, then we have got 45. It's just going to keep accumulating."

Mr James insisted that his family follow all the rules for recycling, sorting their rubbish into glass, paper and other types. But he said the household created too much waste for the fortnightly collection to deal with. Mr James and his ex-partner, Tina Nightingale have twins Emma and Leigh, 18, Wayne, 17, Zoe, 15, John, 13, 12-year-old Christopher and Michelle, 11.

Emma and Zoe are pregnant, and Mr James fears the newborns will not be able to go outside thanks to the rubbish.

Tina, 47, who also lives at the family home, is disabled with chronic obstructive airways disease. The family have a mobility car, but they refuse to use it for taking household waste to the dump.

Tina said: "They will not take anything that isn't in those bins. Everybody would like to see them go back to the normal pick-ups every week or come to some compromise."

A spokesman for the Keep Britain Tidy campaign said: "Councils shouldn't just use a one-size-fits-all policy. It isn't much good a large family being treated the same as a couple who live by themselves."

Coun Ann Scaife, portfolio holder for environment and cleansing, said: "This family made complaints in February and March, but nothing since. An appointment will be set up between the family and the recycling manager."