People in Workington are being advised not to take their plastic and cans to the town's household waste recycling centre after doorstep collections were suspended.

Allerdale council, which announced on Friday that collections were being suspended, had advertised the Solway Road site among those where people could dispose of their mixed recyclables.

But a spokesman said he had today been made aware that the centre does not have room for recycling banks to collect plastics and cans.

The site has now been removed from Allerdale council's list of places where the waste can be deposited.

Instead, it is advising people to use the recycling banks at the town's Tesco store.

He added: "We have been in discussion with Cumbria Waste Management about the situation."

The council has suspended all doorstep collections of mixed recycling and garden waste with effect from today while it works with refuse contractor FCC Environment to resolve months of problems faced since the introduction of a new system in April.

Weekly household waste collections and four-weekly paper and card collections will still take place.

Collections across the borough have been beset by problems since a new contract began.

Last month the authority revealed that more than 66,000 bins had not been emptied on time in just seven weeks during April and May.

In a bid to alleviate the problems, the council has announced that garden waste collections will be suspended for two months, with glass, cans and plastic recycling also stopped for up to the same length of time.

The spokesman added: "During this period, residents are advised to use the recycling centres and the household waste recycling sites to dispose of their recycling and garden waste. Details, and locations, can be found on the council’s website at www.allerdale.gov.uk/en/waste-recycling/recycling-centres.

"Residents are also encouraged to remember the phrase: Reduce, reuse, recycle. Where possible reduce the amount of waste you are creating and reuse items such as plastic boxes to help reduce the amount of waste you put out and to wash and squash down recycling where possible."