MALVERN Hills residents are complaining that the district council’s new policy of collecting general waste every two weeks is causing a stink.

The council is now offering advice on how to minimise the stench from bin bags. It recommended that people double bag their waste, keep their bin lids shut and consider composting.

Gordon Morris of Hanley Swan found maggots in his bin following the most recent collection.

He said: “It was absolutely crawling with maggots, this is even with everything bagged up in the bin.

“This is a result of the collections going to every two weeks and the hot weather. Not only do we get the maggots but there is the awful smell that goes with it.

“I’m capable of cleaning the bin, but what will happen to all the old people who can’t do that.”

On the Worcester News Facebook page, Sara Reece said: “My recycling and waste are both full in a week. If my recycling was emptied weekly I wouldn’t need to use my black bin so now I have a full black bin and three bags outside and we still have another week to go. I only have four living here. I can’t imagine how bigger families are coping.”

James Hayward said: Me and my partner are very good at recycling and minimising waste however we have recently had a huge maggot problem and only happened a day after we put the bags in the wheelie bin.”

Yvonne Harford Clarke said: “I love having the bins, so much neater than seeing black plastic bags being torn open by cats and foxes or kicked along the street.”

Emma Beach said: “They didn’t even empty mine this week even though it was out, so I’ll have a month of stinking waste. Malvern council are a waste of time.”

Stu Sorrell said: “We’ve had maggots as well as the bad stink. We are good with out recycling but with four kids, us and a dog,the amount of rubbish we get through is unreal.

“I have to do a tip run once a week to dispose of the bin bags that stink and it’s making our cars stink.”

Alex Bill, the council’s environmental services manager, said: “The country has experienced an exceptional and prolonged spell of high temperatures recently but despite this we have only had a handful of complaints about smells.

“Keep all your rubbish in the bin with the lid closed, double-bag food waste and other particularly smelly items and use sacks, if not already doing so, to put your rubbish in before putting it in the bin rather than throwing waste in loose. Cutting down on food waste or considering home-composting are other ways people can reduce issues with smell.”

Mr Bill said the rest of Worcestershire had been operating fortnightly collections for some time and said people had coped with previous bouts of extreme weather.

The fortnightly collection was launched in April.