A family has complained to Fife Council that they have only had their bins emptied six times since a new refuse collection service started in Fife on October 15.
Fife’s bins are now emptied between 6am and 9pm, with the introduction of new working hours designed to maximise the use of lorries and save £800,000 without cutting jobs.
Fife Council has said that aside from “teething troubles”, the system is running smoothly.
But John Grant, of Red Roofs Cottages, Craigie Farm, near St Michaels, says his family have had to stockpile rubbish on numerous occasions because the refuse collectors do not make the uplift.
They have even had to take their own rubbish to the civic amenity skips in St Andrews, he said.
Mr Grant (52), a cleaner with NHS Fife who lives in his rented rural cottage with wife Lorraine (49) and son Mark (26), said he had raised a complaint with North East Fife MSP Rod Campbell.
Mr Campbell had written to Fife Council chief executive Ronnie Hinds, leading Mr Hinds to reply that the matter was indeed down to “teething problems”.
But Mr Grant, who as of Tuesday had not had his rubbish uplifted since January 8, said the matter seemed no closer to being resolved.
He said: “Because we live in a rural area we’ve got black plastic sacks instead of wheeled bins. We are supposed to get bags taken away weekly.
“But this means when we stockpile rubbish it’s getting ripped apart by foxes. We can’t leave it to pile up but are out of pocket when we have to take it the skips ourselves.”
Martin Kingham, Fife Council service manager for waste collection, said: “Regrettably, due to an administrative error, this property was not placed on our new routes after Mr Grant contacted us in November.
“We are very sorry he has been inconvenienced for this amount of time and Mr Grant will be contacted this week with our assurances that, as of this week, a reliable Friday collection service will be restored to him and we will deal with any excess waste that has accumulated.”
North East Fife MSP Rod Campbell said: “I am aware of significant problems Fife Council has encountered with its new bin collection services, particularly in remote parts of North East Fife.
“I appreciate the great inconvenience irregular bin collection can have on residential and business properties and I hope the ‘teething problems’ are solved very quickly.”