THE council has warned of a two-week backlog as it works to remove thousands of tonnes of rubbish from the city's streets.

Two weeks of strike action in a row over pay and working conditions saw mountains of rubbish form across Brighton and Hove this month.

After a deal was finally struck to end the industrial action on Wednesday, council staff are now working "day and night" to remove the tonnes of rubbish left on the street.

However, Brighton and Hove City Council have warned of a two-week backlog, meaning it will take a minimum of two weeks to remove all of the waste left abandoned in the city.

With around 680 communal refuse bins, 1,500 communal recycling bins and 150 glass communal bins, plus more than 60 recycling points the scale of the operation is "a massive one", it said.

Despite that, between Monday and Thursday, crews have already picked up almost 500 tonnes more than they would normally collect.

An average daily collection totals 209 tonnes. However, on Monday they collected 265 tonnes; Tuesday 333 tonnes; Wednesday 314 tonnes and Thursday 391 tonnes.

That is 1,303 tonnes compared to the average 836 tonnes normally collected.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: "All our crews are out daily to remove the piles of waste that accumulated during the strike.

"But we’ll also have staff out from midnight on Friday to clear up as much as they can from hard to reach areas they can’t get to during the day.

The Argus: An average daily collection totals 209 tonnes. An average daily collection totals 209 tonnes.

"We also have additional crews removing the waste that’s piled up around communal bins, while the usual day to day service is up and running again.

"It’s all part of the non-stop drive to get the city back to normal now the industrial action of the last two weeks has been lifted.

"However, the scale of the operation is a massive one.

"The very large piles of waste that have built up around our communal bins and recycling ‘bring sites’ take about one hour to clear. "

Bin workers had been due to start a new five-week walk-out on Thursday if the deal with Brighton and Hove City Council had not reached.