A Whitehawk resident has expressed her frustration after binmen refused to empty one of her recycling boxes claiming it was “too heavy to lift”.

But Lesley King, 44, who lives in Horsham Close, said her 73-year-old husband was able to lift the container.

Brighton and Hove City Council had not emptied the paper recycling box once in the last two weeks, despite Cityclean staff making two visits.

Mrs King said: “Last week, we put out two black boxes of paper and only got one emptied. On Tuesday we put out four black boxes and they emptied three.

“I went outside and challenged them, but they said it was too heavy to lift and drove off.

“If I can lift it, so can they. My husband, who is 73, can also lift it.”

A council spokesman said the bin had now been emptied.

He said: “Workers have to make decisions on the spot about what they feel safe to lift and we have to respect that. They shift very large numbers of boxes in a day and make decisions on that basis.

“The bottom line is that the council accepts responsibility to collect everyone’s recycling and that is what will happen in this case.”

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