AN ELDERLY resident is fed-up with the council for failing to attend to a street lined with overflowing recycling bins.

Stuart Nicholson, 68, from Collen Drive in Woodingdean has not had his recycling collected in a month.

He said: “I have been waiting weeks and I am still waiting.

“I have had to empty my recycling bin four times since the council last bothered to come and collect it.

“During Storm Erik last week the rubbish blew everywhere, it was just awful.

“It’s only been a bit more tidy this week because people here are proud of their community and don’t want it to look like a rubbish dump.”

Mr Nicholson is horrified at Brighton and Hove City Council’s attitude towards his complaints about the failed collections.

He said: “They have a terrible attitude. I want to do my bit for the environment, but it’s so hard when it just gives off the impression that it really doesn’t care.”

The former postman said he has repeatedly tried to call City Clean but is either put on hold or left waiting for long period of time.

He said: “The last few times I have called, it’s voicemail giving information about the Christmas period and what to do if you want to get in touch.

“That just shows how out of date it is.”

Mr Nicholson said the worst part of his ordeal with the council is it has said it will clear the rubbish “Asap”.

Yet a month later, the bins have still not been collected.

While there was snow on the ground a few weeks ago, Mr Nicholson said he understood there may have been difficulty for the rubbish trucks to reach his road.

He said: “Fair enough if the weather conditions are bad. But to be honest, The Argus was still delivered every day and my milk bottles were still delivered every day. So how can they not manage once every couple of weeks?

“And there has been plenty of time since the snow, certainly enough to come and empty our bins. I worked for a large company before I retired and we had contingency plans to meet bad weather, staff absences, vehicle breakdowns, so why don’t City Clean?”

Mr Nicholson said he feels he is speaking on behalf of the neighbours in his street whose bins are equally as full.

He said: “Just because it might not be all over the place doesn’t mean to say it’s not important to collect it. How are we supposed to take action and care about the planet by recycling when the council just leaves it so it ends up blowing all over the place.

A spokesman for the council said: “Like most of the city, Mr Nicholson’s recycling is fortnightly and therefore one collection has been missed. The next scheduled collection is today, so the recycling will be removed.

“We have responded quickly and efficiently to every correspondence Mr Nicholson has had with us, so we’re very surprised of his claims to the paper that our staff ‘lied’ to him about his collection.

“We had fallen behind with collections in some areas due to the recent cold weather and unexpected staff shortages. We are and have been working very hard to address this, and are now almost back to normal.”