THOUSANDS of people in Bournemouth and Poole have signed petitions as they are fed up with dealing with maggot-infested bins following the introduction of fortnightly collections.

More than 2,500 people have signed a petition set up by Bournemouth resident Dawn Adlem, and a similar one by Adam Patchton, of Poole, has generated over 1,100 signatures.

Alternate weekly waste collections were introduced in Poole in October 2016 and in April this year in Bournemouth.

However, with the arrival of summer, residents are experiencing problems with maggots and are calling for a return to weekly collections.

Adam said: “The poor quality of the bins means the lids don’t seal effectively, allowing flies to gain access to the decomposing waste. It sits there festering in the heat for two weeks, turning into a crawling maggot fest, and the stench is unbearable.”

He added: “Surely this is a health and safety issue, not only for home owners but for the refuse collection staff too.”

Dawn said the size of bins were “insufficient” for fortnightly collections, leading to more trips to the tip.

“The council didn’t collect my food bin last week so the only option was to put my food waste in the main bin.

“I think food bins need to be more secure so that foxes and pests can’t access them. The heat is causing a problem with rotting food – you end up with larvae in the food bin so you transfer the rubbish to the big bin and get them in there too.”

Dawn’s friend Kelly Kilic said the situation was becoming a “health hazard”.

“There surely must be another solution to food waste than these brown bins – I have to put bleach in my bins to disinfect them every week as there are so many larvae. It’s disgusting.

“The normal waste bin should be the size of the recycling bin if they’re only going to collect it every two weeks. It’s not enough.”

Nearly 70 per cent of councils in the UK now collect bins fortnightly.

Sarah Speakman-Jones, senior waste and resource officer for Bournemouth council, said: “We understand this is a new service for residents and during the summer months there is a period of adapting to the alternate weekly collections.

“We continue to collect food waste every week and have improved this service by offering a larger 23 litre food waste container which is emptied weekly. 10,700 people across the Borough have registered to take part in the enhanced weekly food waste collections since February but we would still encourage residents who haven’t signed up to get in touch and start using the service.”

Cllr John Rampton, portfolio holder for environmental services, Borough of Poole, said: “I would encourage people to ensure their rubbish is bagged, to keep their bin clean and to keep the lid closed.”

He added: “Over the past ten months, the people of Poole have been very successful in increasing their recycling by over 10 per cent.”