Binmen will not be collecting garden waste from any property in the Canterbury district for the next two-and-a-half months.

The city council says its contractors will instead be focussing their efforts on tackling the increase in recycling and residual rubbish generated over the festive period.

Therefore, residents - some of whom would have paid £49.95 for their large green bins - will be left waiting until March before their garden waste is emptied by Serco.

This will be the first time the authority has extended its winter suspension on garden rubbish collections.

Council spokesman Rob Davies says the move is a logical one.

He said: "As part of a series of changes to the Serco contract, discussed extensively by councillors earlier this year, garden waste collections will end on Christmas Eve and resume in March.

"The aim of these changes was to provide greater resilience and improvement across the service as a whole.

"A detailed report to councillors showed there are very low volumes of garden waste in January and February compared to other months in the year.

"While we accept some people do continue to generate garden waste over winter, and apologise to those who are affected by this change, the lorries drive around comparatively empty, and this is not a good use of staff or vehicle resources."

Residents not wanting to wait until the spring before they can rid themselves of garden waste are encouraged to go to the tip.

Weekly food waste collections are unaffected by the change and will continue throughout January and February.

Mr Davies added: "Garden waste collections have been suspended at Christmas and for the first couple of weeks of January for many years, so that the crews can focus on tackling the increase in recycling and residual waste. Extending this for a few extra weeks ensures this resilience can continue.

"Our usual real Christmas tree collection will continue, with information on when this will take place available at www.canterbury.gov.uk/dates or by calling Serco on 0800 031 9091."