MERSEYSIDE’S five councils have pledged to clear the backlog of rubbish that is littering the streets.

If residents put out their bins and any extra rubbish Liverpool, Wirral, Knowsley and St Helens have said they will remove any bags placed next to wheelie bins and Sefton have pledged to pick up two extra bags per household.

The cold snap has forced all councils to review their rubbish collection as snow and ice have made many smaller roads too dangerous to go down.

As more snow fell yesterday, the councils reviewed the collections road by road.

In Liverpool, a spokeswoman said: “The collection crews are going to all areas and decide on site if the wagon can safely collect rubbish on the street – icy conditions mean that it’s impossible for the wagon to access very narrow streets, and sometimes streets that are particularly hilly.

“Health and Safety for the public and the collection crew is a priority.

“Any roads we can’t access are constantly reviewed and the bins will be collected as soon as possible – we aim to collect within 24 hours. We will accept extra bags. We’re asking residents to put out their bins on their normal collection days.

“We are also collecting blue recycling bins, but the green bin collection is temporarily suspended.”

In Wirral, collections were taking place on roads which had been gritted.

A spokesman said: “Collections of the brown, garden waste, bins have been suspended until January 25 at the earliest.

“Our priority is to clear the rubbish that has piled up in some roads we haven’t been able to access.

“We are asking people to put out their rubbish as normal and we will assess each road individually and remove it as quickly as possible.

“With regards to the recycling bin any extra recycling should be taken to one of our three recycling centres.”

A spokeswoman from Knowsley Council said that rubbish collection had resumed.