Some residents are being told to bring their rubbish back in or take it to the dump themselves after wintry weather made roads inaccessible for waste crews.

Snow and icy conditions have led to refuse service delays across Kent, with some households having to wait until next week for collections to resume.

Medway, Maidstone, Tonbridge, Tonbridge & Malling, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford, Swale and Gravesham councils have all issued information on when crews will return to pick up missed bins.

Medway Council today apologised for the inconvenience but said icy conditions meant the Medway Norse team was unable to get to all roads scheduled for collections yesterday and today.

The council said roads scheduled for Monday and Tuesday would be rescheduled for next week, with garden and food waste collections cancelled tomorrow to allow crews to collect as much refuse and recycling as possible.

A statement added: "We would encourage any residents that are unable to store their waste until next week to book a slot at their nearest HWRC, which is free to use.

"Thank you to our waste collection crews who have been working tirelessly in such challenging conditions.

"Please check https://orlo.uk/luUWE for further updates. We will, of course, continue to update you if the adverse weather conditions continue."

Yesterday, Maidstone Council suspended all waste collection services for the rest of the day, and cancelled garden waste collections for residential properties yesterday and today.

They said teams would attempt to collect yesterday's collections today, adding: "To avoid bin lids being frozen, and preventing collection, wedge something small, for example a piece of cardboard, between the lid and the bin to make sure it can still be emptied.

"Additionally, avoid parking on street corners and junctions; the collection vehicles require more time and space to turn in these conditions."

Tonbridge and Malling Council also said waste collections had been suspended yesterday, and that disruption would have an impact on the rest of the week.

A statement said all collections are now scheduled to take place at least one day later than normal this week, weather and road conditions permitting. This will include weekend working with collections returning to normal next week.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council also said collections were affected by icy conditions and would roll forward by a day, throughout the week. The council also said crews would be working at the weekend to catch up.

Ashford Council said collections missed on Monday would have to wait until next week.

A statement added: "For Monday’s missed bin collections and any other properties during the rest of the week that we are unable to collect from, we will collect them on the next refuse week - (week commencing 26 December).

"Affected households will be allowed to present side waste on their next refuse collection date, which will fall a day later than your normal collection day due to Christmas.

"For collections due the rest of the week please present your bins as normal, as crews will be working hard to make the rounds in the hope of being able to collect. If your bins are not collected on your collection day, when safe to do so please take your bin back in, and present again on your next refuse collection date (w/c 26 December).

"If we have missed your bin due to road safety or access you will not be able to submit a missed bin report via our website, as we are aware the collection has not been completed.

"Food waste will be collected alongside recycling next week. To see when your next collection date for refuse waste is head to our website at https://orlo.uk/tKtMg

"We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding and patience."

Swale Council said crews would be working throughout the week to catch up on missed collections.

A statement said: "Even though snow and ice has affected much of Kent, our crews have been working hard to collect as many bins as possible on their rounds today.

"There are still some roads left outstanding, so if your bin has not been collected yet, please leave it out and crews will be back to collect it as soon as possible."

Gravesham Council also said crews had not been able to collect on a number of roads, adding: "If your bin has not been emptied on its usual day this week, please take it back in and we will collect it on your normal collection day next week. So, for example, if your refuse bin was due for collection this week but was missed, please put the refuse bin out next week alongside your recycling bin and we will empty both.

"Garden waste collections are now suspended until January 9 so that our garden waste crews can help their refuse and recycling collection colleagues catch up on their rounds for the rest of this week and next week.

"We will, of course, extend garden waste subscriptions to take account of these missed collections."