PILES of rubbish were left clogging up an alleyway for more than four days after residents failed to follow new waste collection rules.

Dozens of black bags have been stacked in the cut through between Canterbury Road and Lisle Road, Colchester, after being left out on the usual collection day last Thursday.

But the area in New Town was on a dedicated green week where paper, plastic, textiles, garden waste and food waste - which is taken every week - were due to be collected.

Black sacks, along with recyclable glass, cans and tins are now only collected on designated blue weeks.

Anastassia Abdrafikova’s home backs onto the alleyway where the rubbish has been left and she contacted Colchester Council in a bid to have it removed on Friday.

She said: “They just brought it all out and put it all in the back alley.

“Normally one or two houses would pile them up together and others would put them outside their own homes but this time it has ended up in the alley.

“It looks like it has been put there by two or three households put together.

“I called Colchester Council on Friday but it was still there on Monday morning.”

Anastassia added she was in favour of efforts made by the council to increase residents’ recycling habits but was growing concerned about the pile of rubbish which had accumulated yards from her back garden.

She said: “It is horrible.

“There are flies in there and it has been baking in the heat.

“The other problem is that the alleyway is the emergency exit route if anything happened in my house.

“I would probably break my legs if I tried to run and jump over the bags in the middle of the night.

“My worry is if it is left until next week to be cleared away then they will only take three bags per house, which will not be enough and the mess will be left there.

“I know they have cleared up similar things which have been left in other areas so why can the same not happen here?

“I don’t understand why I should be made to suffer.

“My neighbour has a large shed and garage which stops them being able to see it but my house backs directly onto it.

“It is growing and it is disgusting.

“I don’t mind them trying to make more people recycle and putting a limit on the black bags.

“I recycle myself and have got myself some larger black sacks than I usually buy.

“I have two cats which live inside so have lots of cat litter to get rid of so have increased my recycling to be able to do that.

“But why should our family garden be so close to this flytipping?”

A spokesman for Colchester Council confirmed the pile of black bags in the alleyway were collected on Monday by the zone warden team.

In a statement the spokesman said: “The council has sent two leaflets to every household affected by the collection changes -a three-month recycling calendar in February and a new ten month recycling calendar in June - containing details of the new service from June 20.

“It has also held roadshows and provided information through the local media and online.

“The recycling zone wardens have also been working alongside the collection crews, going door-to-door advising residents.

“Residents are asked to check their new recycling calendar to ensure the correct containers are left on the kerbside each week.

“They can also use our quick postcode look-up to check their collection day and whether they’re on a blue or green week.”

The spokesman added: “The accumulation of black bags on Canterbury Road and Lisle Road is not due to collections being missed but due to residents not putting out their black bag rubbish on the correct week.”

Residents can report missed collections, apply for exemptions on the maximum three bag limit for household waste and check what they should put out each week online at beta.colchester.gov.uk.