A frustrated resident has hit out at the district council for reducing the size of landfill bins as part of a scheme to encourage recycling.

New 180 litre brown bins have been distributed across the district and will be used for general waste, replacing the 240 litre black bin which will now be used for recyclable materials.

Janet Barrett, who lives in St Anne’s Road, London Colney, maintains that the new bins are too small and will lead to rubbish piling up in the area.

She said: “Even the old bins were overflowing and now they have just made them smaller; I just think people are going to end up leaving rubbish everywhere.

“You can’t put everything in recycling.”

Janet stated that St Albans council advised her to put her excess rubbish in bags by the side of the bins but was later told that she could not leave her waste there.

She continued: “If I have any extra waste I was told to take it to the landfill in St Albans but that just defeats the recycling object.

“I just see flies and rats as the biggest problem and people won’t know what to do with the excess waste.”

She added: “I would like to thank the actual bin collectors though; they work throughout all weathers and they are the nicest people.”

Richard Shwe, the council’s head of community services, said: “The changes to the waste collection services have been made after much research and comparison with other local authorities.

“The new system is bedding in well and we have not had any complaints that the brown bin for landfill waste is too small.”

The decision was made to reduce the landfill container as “food waste is now collected weekly in a separate container”.

He added: “The new collection service is designed to encourage more recycling and less landfill.

“Landfill is costly for council taxpayers and is also not environmentally sustainable.

“Most residents are supporting our efforts to raise the recycling rate to above 60 per cent.”