HUNDREDS of pubs in and around Bolton have been left with mountains of used beer bottles after the firm operating a weekly collection pulled the service.

Glass recycling firm Berrymans has halted its nationwide collection of bottles from pubs and clubs from this week because, the company claims, many licensees were not prepared to pay £100 a month for the service.

The company introduced the fee when it took over the service as a commercial venture from another firm, Valpak, who had offered the service for free.

The decision has left licensees across the borough with thousands of used bottles, which they may have to deposit in public bottle banks, one at a time.

Kevin Banks, licensee of the Sweet Green Tavern in Crook Street in the town centre, and the Horseshoe Inn in Lever Street, Little Lever, was one of the licensees who paid the fee.

"This is ridiculous," he said. "I paid for the service and I've been left with five wheelie bins full of bottles and nowhere to put them.

"I cannot stand all day at a bottle bank feeding them in. I haven't time.

"Can you imagine all Bolton's licensees queueing up to deposit thousands of bottles. It's not going to happen."

Mr Banks contacted Bolton Council, but says he was told that the council will not collect glass for recycling from pubs.

He said: "The council does a lot to promote their image as keen recyclers but will not collect our bottles.

"We pay enough in rates for the council to provide some sort of service - at least until this problem is sorted."

Andy Hayes, manager of Yates' Wine Lodge in Bradshawgate, said: "We go through thousands of bottles in a weekend and the bottle collection has not been done here for a while, so they are mounting up.

"We can use our other bins to get rid of them at the moment, but it could be a big problem."

Anthony Humphreys, manager of The Spinning Mule in Nelson Square, said he would also have to place thousands of bottles collected each weekend into regular bins.

He said: "We already have two big bins full of bottles which should have been collected and we will simply have to use the normal bins for them, but in doing that the bottles will not be recycled."

Steve Hope, national collections manager for Berrymans, said: "We have had to halt the service provided by our own vehicles nationally because a lot of pubs simply did not pay us.

"We introduced a charge when we took over the service as a commercial business. Many licensees were unhappy but we could not provide it for free.

"Out of 300 or more pubs in the Bolton area, only between 75 and 100 actually paid us any money."

"Collections in some areas of the country are still being carried out by our sub-contractors, but those provided by our own vehicles have had to stop.

"We are in talks with a sub-contractor at the moment who could possibly offer an independent service in Bolton, starting in the next few weeks, but again there will be a charge as this is a business venture."

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: "This is not a problem specific to Bolton and the fact that the company has stopped collecting glass will have a national affect.

"This has happened with very little warning and we have no facilities at the moment to collect glass in these quantities.

"For the time being, we are urging licensees to take bottles to bottle banks and we are looking to see how we can address this problem."