WIRRAL Council has admitted missing its self-imposed deadline to clear all the wheelie bins backlog by today.

The local authority now says it could be a week today before all green waste is cleared.

Today, only scheduled collections were taking place - although some crews were making return journeys to help tackle the growing household waste problem.

In a statement issued a few minutes ago, the council said:

"Wirral Council and its contractors Biffa are continuing to work hard in an attempt to tackle the backlog of bin collections that has built up as a result of the disruption due to the recent poor weather.

"Once again over the weekend, there were 20 teams of staff out on the streets collecting green (non-recyclable) waste bins.

"We estimate that around half of the backlog of green bins from last week has now been collected.

"Today, and for the rest of the week, the priority will be for crews to carry out their regular rounds, collecting green and grey bins that are scheduled to be collected this week in line with the waste collection calendars.

"Once crews complete their scheduled days work, many are returning to areas still outstanding from last week to empty green bins.

"In our catch up arrangements, we aim to collect green bins missed from last Friday first and then move to Thursday's outstanding green bins and so on until all green bins have been emptied.

"Therefore residents are advised to leave their green bins out until we get to you.

"Crews will also be out this coming weekend to ensure we catch up on all outstanding green bins by Monday.

"All bagged waste placed by the side of your green bins will be taken.

"In some areas, cage crews have also been sent to collect black bags in order to help relieve the situation until a Refuse Collection Vehicle can be freed up to visit those streets.

"Unfortunately, we do not have enough resources to catch up on any recycling back log and urge residents to store extra recyclables in a dry place until their bin has been emptied and make use of bring sites where possible.

"We have also arranged for skips to be placed at our three Household Waste Recycling Centres in which residents can deposit mixed grey bin recycling.

"We understand that, for some residents, it may now be close to four weeks since one of their bins has been emptied.

"We are extremely grateful for the patience and understanding shown by residents as we work through these current issues and would like to reassure them that we are getting there and hope to return to a normal collection schedule, possibly as early as next week."