RESIDENTS have claimed that a council's new refuse collection system has left them having to take their rubbish to the local tip.

Hambleton District Council introduced wheelie bins in July last year. Many residents have two wheelie bins - green for garden waste and black for general rubbish - which are collected on alternate weeks.

But people in Northallerton say the fortnightly collections of black bins mean they are left with too much rubbish and they have to take it to the town's tip, on Yafforth Road, themselves.

Joan Finn, who lives in the Romanby Park area, said the extra car journeys defeated the object of the system, which is to cut down on waste and increase recycling.

"A lot of people are going to the tip once a fortnight - to me that is defeating the whole object of recycling," she said.

"You are supposed to be using your car less and less and every one of us is getting into a car to take our rubbish to the tip - how is that saving the environment? To me, it is nonsense."

She also claimed that other people living in the Romanby Park area were so frustrated with the system that they were thinking about starting a petition to have the weekly collections returned.

Mike Kneebone, Hambleton District Council's operational services manager, said: "We often have complaints of a similar nature at the start of the new system, but eventually people start to recycle and that reduces the waste and means they do not have to take rubbish to the tip."

He said people could ask for bigger bins: "They can ring up and request a larger bin and we will carry out a site visit."

From December until February, the wheelie bins containing household waste will be collected weekly instead of fortnightly while garden waste is low.

Fortnightly collections resume on February 11.