Estates' bins 'not safe'

People living on some Jersey housing estates have not had their rubbish collected in almost a week.

Refuse collectors have said they will not handle the metal bins at property owned by the Housing Committee.

The steel bins have been on the estates in St Helier for more than 25 years.

But for the past five years refuse collectors have been warning residents and private businesses that they are not safe.

'Disgraceful'

Now they say they are fed up with delays getting the replacement Euro bins and last week they stopped emptying the bins.

Housing president, Deputy Terry Le Main, said it was disgraceful that his department was not warned about the action.

A private contractor was brought in to clear the rubbish but had stopped doing it because the union could not guarantee his safety.

Deputy Le Main said new bins had been bought at a cost of £40,000 and should replace all the existing ones on Wednesday.