Neighbours in a Southampton road have described the ‘absolute nightmare’ of not having their bins emptied for two and half weeks.
Those living on Cracknore Road said they have had enough and are now having to fill up bin liners by the side of the road.
The city council has previously apologised for disruption caused by a change to binmen's working practices which they brought in.
Under the previous system, known as 'task and finish', crews could leave at 1pm if they had finished their tasks.
However, as of January 29, binmen can't clock off until the end of their shift which is either 3.36pm or 4.06pm depending on their role.
But this is actually causing delays due to the knock-on impact on how the binmen work.
Vesela Ivanova, 55, has lived on the road for eight years and said she fears it will lead to the road being full of waste.
She told the Echo: “This is the second week that it hasn’t been collected.
“I don’t have any other space to put my waste, and it seems like the council isn’t really bothered to fix it.
“I fear that with the windy weather we have had lately, one day the full bins will tip over and the whole road will get covered in waste.
"It's an absolute nightmare."
She added: “Because there is no more space, I am having to fill up bags and just leave them on the side of the bins. I just don’t have anywhere else to leave it.”
The woes have led Vesela to reflect on the injustice of her council tax not being put to good use.
She said: “It’s all very good paying our council tax - every month they get my payments, but when it comes to actually making sure our rubbish is collected the council refuse to do it.
“It makes me wonder if they don’t collect my rubbish, does that mean I don’t have to pay my council tax for this month? Because why am I paying them if they don't do their job?”.
Another resident, Joseph Flood, 77, shared his fellow neighbours’ concerns.
He said: “We’re having to leave bin bags by the bins with our rubbish in because there is no more space.
“Where do we put it? We can’t leave it in our house!”
Councillor Lorna Fielker, Leader of Southampton City Council said: “As I’m sure many people are aware, we have been experiencing disruption to our bin collections over the last couple of weeks.
"While the majority of bins are being collected, there are areas where this has not been the case and I understand the impact this is having and the inconvenience it is causing.
"Previously, the waste crews operated a ‘task and finish’ system which meant they were able to leave work as soon as they had finished their collection round.
"The new system that has been agreed with the unions requires crews to work the full hours they are being paid for each day, and take the breaks they should be taking. This means teams are no longer incentivised to rush, which reduces the risks of injuries and accidents, and provides time for training and development.
"I know how frustrating it is for those whose bins have not been collected for a number of days. We are trying to fix the issues that some of our crews seem to be having with the new ways of working, and we will resolve this as quickly as we can.
"In the meantime we will mobilising staff from other departments to help clear side waste and help minimise the build-up of rubbish on the streets. I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to those who are working extremely hard to clear the backlog.
"Obviously, this situation is not satisfactory for you or for me and I would like to apologise to everyone who is being affected by the disruption. If your bin has not been collected, please leave it out and we will pick it up as soon as we can, and please continue to report missed collections on our website.
"It is frustrating that we can’t provide a date for when this will be resolved, but fixing it is an absolute priority and we hope to get back to normal as soon as possible.“
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