Strictly Orthodox families have joined the protests against Bury Council's move to cut rubbish collections to once every three weeks, the first English borough to do so.

Residents of the north Manchester area say their bins have been overflowing since fortnightly collections were introduced in 2011. Representatives of Charedi families arranged to meet local MP Ivan Lewis and councillors over plans being rushed through by the council.

Bury has a very high concentration of strictly Orthodox residents and the community successfully campaigned in 2011 to be allocated up to eight bins per household to cope with the refuse disposal needs of large families.

Mother-of-nine Sonya Cantor said she was worried about the proposed change, even though she now recycled more. "I have two black bins for normal rubbish and three other full-size recycling bins. There's already no space. If offered another bin there would still be the problem of smell, making matters worse." Another local, Amanda Kaye, branded the plan "madness".

Residents across the Jewish spectrum joined a social media protest, signing an online petition which garnered 3,000 supporters in two days.

If offered another bin, there would still be the problem of smell

Mr Lewis said he was relaying the concerns to senior council officials, but was broadly in favour of the scheme, which would save cash. And Councillor Tony Isherwood said: "Recycling just 10 per cent more than we do now would save nearly £1 million per year. That's money which would be better spent on protecting other local services."