Rotting waste has been overflowing since December 17 as the service to collect from green wheelie bins was suspended by Dacorum Borough Council and many households will not have the wheelies emptied until next week.

Mounting mouldy food, cardboard and garden waste in the bins has frustrated residents across the borough like Clive Isitt.

He said: "Our green bin is full of rotting compost and we stopped using it at least a week ago as it was full. For the past two weeks we have been putting compost waste in the black wheelie bin, the length of time between the collection of the green bin, this year, was far too long."

Alan Haire of Washington Avenue, Hemel Hempstead who lives with his wife and two teenagers said his bin has not been emptied since December, 6.

He said: "We have what I consider to be an average amount of waste and we are definitely pro-recycling.

"We find it totally unbelievable that our recycling bin has not been emptied since the 6th, that's six weeks and as you can imagine the bin is full up and has been for some weeks.

"This subject makes me so angry especially after just 'donating' another £117 to the council coffers."

In response a spokesman for Dacorum Borough Council, Luisa Clarke, said: "We accept that as food waste can now be placed in the green bin this policy should be reviewed and will be monitoring feedback from residents with regard to the suspension of the green bin service over the Christmas period.

If the feedback suggests that residents would prefer green bin collections over this period we will develop alternative proposals for Christmas 2008."

She also included a list of ways to beat odours in the bin.

These included:

• Rinse polystyrene food packaging that cannot be recycled.

• Rinse your bin out regularly and keep it clean.

• If possible store it away from direct sunlight.

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