Furious residents say their picturesque streets resemble a dumping ground after weeks of missed bin collections.

Some Faversham homes have gone more than a month without their waste being picked up, raising fears of vermin and health hazards.

The situation has become so volatile that Swale Borough Council (SBC) reports Suez refuse workers have been spat at.

Linda Thompson, who has lived in nearby Badlesmere for nine years, says her village has become "a rubbish dump" since the French utility giant took over two months ago.

“It’s been absolute chaos,” said the 57-year-old.

“They’re missing whole swathes of areas and there’s rubbish everywhere - they just don’t know what they’re doing.

“Suez has turned our town into a rubbish dump.”

The grandmother-of-two says since March 25 - when Suez began collecting waste across Swale under contract by the borough council - her recycling has been collected just once and her food bin not at all.

In Badlesmere and beyond, this has led to odorous litter overflowing onto roads.

“We drove to our daughter’s house in Doddington the other day where they haven’t had any service at all, and the amount of bins strewn along roadsides and driveways is horrendous,” added the housewife and interior designer.

“My daughter has just had a new baby, she’s got a bin full of nappies - it’s a health hazard.”

SBC says delays in waste collection have been the result of new teams learning the routes and getting used to new vehicles.

The local authority has apologised to residents and insists Suez staff are working hard to catch up on missed bins.

But Badlesmere resident Stephen Burt - having complained to SBC multiple times in recent weeks - has been unimpressed by the authority’s excuses.

“It’s just collecting bins - it’s not rocket science,” the 57-year-old said.

“I ran my own business so I know logistics can be tricky, but this has just been rubbish really, and with the warmer weather coming we’re going to have flies and maggots.

“I have written to the council four times but it’s the same platitudes in response. How long are we meant to live like this?”

Kent county councillor for Faversham Antony Hook described the situation as “appalling” in a letter addressed to head of SBC Tim Gibson.

“Almost no street in Faversham has had a proper collection each week and some streets have now gone four weeks or worse without a collection.” wrote the councillor.

“Bin collection is one of the most basic services people expect from local government.

“If the council were a commercial service, people would have cancelled their subscription and moved to another supplier already.”

Cllr Hook’s letter calls on the council to set a date for when residents can expect the service to work properly, not to pay Suez for work they have not done, and compensate residents in the worst-affected areas.

Speaking to KentOnline, he argued SBC has had ample time to prepare for the change in service providers.

“The problems are particularly noticeable in narrow streets and the excuse is that the lorries are not the right size to reach them,” he said.

“This is pretty outrageous as Suez and Swale council have had 10 months to make sure everything was ready from day one and they obviously just haven’t used that time to do that.”

A spokesperson for SBC said: “We are almost two months into our new waste service, and we know elements of it had not gone according to plan.

“We knew there were going to be teething problems, as there always are when undertaking a large change, but the service being provided was not to the standard we, nor our community, expected.

“Although the majority of residents have received the correct scheduled service, we are continuing to work with Suez to resolve any outstanding issues.

“We knew there were going to be teething problems...”

"The service is still not exactly where we would like it to be, but we have seen consistent improvements in collection rates week on week since the beginning of April.

“The refuse collection crews have also been working incredibly hard, undertaking catch-up rounds over the weekends, and Suez have also brought in additional resources to assist with the collection of everyone’s refuse.”

As frustration over the situation mounts, the borough council says there have been reports of residents abusing rubbish collectors and council officers.

“We are sad to say that we are receiving reports of binmen being sworn and spat at, and call centre staff being spoken to in an unacceptably aggressive manner and verbally abused,” the spokesperson added.

“We understand that some residents are frustrated, but abuse of any form towards council or Suez staff will not be tolerated.”

The council is encouraging anyone whose bin has been missed to report it on the council website within two days of the scheduled collection.