HOUSEHOLDERS in Bolton are to be given extra sacks to help them cope with their refuse over Christmas.

Orange sacks for regular rubbish and clear sacks for recycling will be issued to all houses to help people dispose of the larger amounts of rubbish that homes generate in the festive season.

Rubbish collections will take place next week, but there will be no collection on Boxing Day. All bins will be emptied a day later than usual and the binmen will work on Saturday to make the collections usually made on Fridays.

Similar arrangements will apply the following week, with binmen not working on the Monday bank holiday but again working on Saturday.

Each house and some flats will receive two orange sacks and one recycling bag but will not be able to request any additional sacks. The bags will be collected during the two weeks after Christmas.

Cllr Roger Hayes, Bolton Council's executive member for environmental services, hopes the measures will help to avoid last year's problems when roads became blocked with householders queueing to visit waste disposal sites.