REFUSE collectors across Warrington have walked out over pay and conditions.

The strike action started on Tuesday of this week, and since then no bins have been collected across the town.

Warrington Borough Council has now confirmed it does not expect to be able to empty bins until the industrial action ends on October 16.

Amid the strikes, residents have been urged to use long recycling centres, to share bin space with neighbours, and to flatten their waste so they can fit more in their bins.

Hundreds of readers have reacted to news.

Here is what they had to say:

“It is what it is, we'll have to put up with the filth, litter and well-fed rats for the foreseeable. Don't give them any overtime on the clear-up, make them suffer the consequences.”

“They get a decent wage and only work a four-day week and never a bank holiday. Bin men get back to work.”

“They should not be allowed to go on strike, this is a public service.”

“What happened to minimum service requirements for public sector workers?”

“Shame on you all. Whatever happened to support and sympathy, these folk have the same rights and expectations as you. The slightest inconvenience to you and you stab them in the back. Your lip is probably wobbly with the doctors and nurses to. People shouldn't have any pay and any conditions just to stop you whinging. It's the lack of community loyalty that has let divide and conquer Tories run riot.”

“It’s taxpayer money that pays their wages we can complain that they’re striking as much as we want. In the private sector you don’t like your job or need more money you go look somewhere else. With respect, it isn’t as if being a bin person is as hard as it used to be.”

“Paying £185 council tax every month for what? And then they want more to empty your green one. It is a joke.”

“I look forward to the rebate on my council tax next month. I may even submit a mileage claim if I have to take a trip to the tip.”

“I am a taxpayer, if you don’t like your job get another, blah, blah, blah. I pay your wages etc. Bore off. We can’t blame workers for standing up and wanting a little bit more of the cake.”

“Thank you for all of your hard work. If the rubbish doesn’t get collected for a while, so be it. Get the pay rise you deserve.”

“Any excuse not to empty my bins anyway – ranging from them being too heavy to the lid being open by a hair’s width. Yet they are set up on the corner of my local tip that I had to make a visit to today and expect beeps of support. Surely they knew what they would be paid when they applied for the job.”