NORTH Somerset Council has blamed an ‘unprecedented’ amount of recycling material generated over the festive period for delays in their collections.

Rubbish collectors were forced to pick up 45 per cent more recycling than usual and, despite eight more vehicles being on the road, many collections were severely delayed.

Mary Mulligan, from Clevedon, said her recycling had not been collected more than a week after it was advertised to have been taken away.

She said: “It astounds me how the crews collecting the wheelie bins, and garden waste, manage to do their job without fail every fortnight. However, the recycling crews can only do half of what they are expected to do. Phone calls to the council have no effect.”

Councillor Peter Bryant, executive member for waste and recycling, said the delays were proof that the council’s recycling initiative is working.

He said: “The recycling trucks are having to make extra journeys to the depot to unload, mainly because of the volume of cardboard, which obviously eats into the crews’ collecting time.

“I would like to thank all our residents for taking up the recycling message so strongly. Recycling means we are diverting waste from landfill, which is kinder to the environment and saves us money in landfill taxes.”