RESIDENTS on a Darlington estate say a recycling scheme has collapsed, with boxes of bottles and newspapers going uncollected for weeks at a time.

People on the Firthmoor estate have been leaving their unwanted items for recycling in blue boxes outside their homes.

But they say Darlington Borough Council, which launched a recycling scheme in other parts of the town last week, is no longer emptying the boxes.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said his recycling box had not been emptied for six weeks.

"On Firthmoor we have been on the recycling scheme for about a year and for the last six weeks nothing has been collected," he said.

"They are supposed to come round once a fortnight. There was a big wagon that came last week for the papers, but the tins and the bottles and all that are still here.

"People have been having to take it to Morrison's themselves."

At a meeting of Firthmoor Community Partnership Board, members said they were tired of waiting for the waste to be collected.

"The boxes are just not being picked up," said local resident Bill Cook.

" Things are starting to get scattered about.

"I do feel that people are just going to put the stuff back in their bins. That is happening already."

Mr Cook said that when the new council scheme was launched on Firthmoor, people would be unlikely to take part.

Councillor Roderick Francis said he had had a number of complaints, adding: "I was given an assurance that the boxes would be collected last Tuesday. They weren't."

A council spokeswoman said Firthmoor was still on the old blue box scheme.

"The last collection will be on September 16 after which the new service, with green boxes, will take over in early October. We have had some missed streets recently which we are aware of. We are in discussions to deal with it."

She said residents would shortly be getting leaflets about the new scheme.