EVERY fortnight, mother-of-seven Julia Applegate dutifully puts out her recycling bins — the correct colour, in the right place and with the lids closed.

But for the past six weeks the bins have remained untouched, leaving residents with a build-up of rubbish from over the festive period.

Mrs Applegate, who has lived in Stonesteads Way, Bromley Cross, for 25 years, said the problems started with the introduction of alternate rubbish collections in May.

Despite living on the same road, she says she and a handful of her neighbours’ bins are on a different collection schedule to the rest of the street.

Mrs Applegate, who lives with her husband and daughter, said: “Five of us are on a totally different rota to everyone else so they just keep missing us.

“They think we’ve put our bins out wrong. In eight weeks, we’ve had them emptied once.

“Imagine it from Christmas and New Year.

“I ended up having to go and do their job and take it to the tip.

“My husband is 66 and in bad health and I’m having to drag the bins down the long path and back again when they don’t empty them.

“Common sense would be they put us on the same rota.

“It all started when they started doing fortnightly collections.

“We never had any problems before that.”Mrs Applegate contacted the council several times about the bins, which are supposed to be emptied once a fortnight.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “We’re sorry that Mrs Applegate and her neighbours have been experiencing difficulties with the collection of their beige and burgundy recycling bins. We have investigated the matter and spoken with the relevant collection crew.

“Arrangements have been made for the beige and burgundy bins from 81 to 91 Stonesteads Way to be collected and we would like to reassure Mrs Applegate and her neighbours that we will monitor the recycling collections over the coming weeks to ensure the bins are collected as scheduled.”