GIUSEPPE Liggeri says he has to take his restaurant's rubbish home with him because council bosses will not give him a bin.

The 34-year-old took over Cafe Italia, in Rodney Road, Cheltenham, six months ago and says he has been battling with Cheltenham Borough Council waste bosses ever since.

Collections are made twice a week from the restaurant, on a Tuesday and Friday, but he says it is not often enough and waste is piling up.

"On a Saturday I have four bags of rubbish and then I have to wait until Tuesday for a collection," he said.

"Where am I supposed to keep it? I cannot leave it outside or inside."

When he phoned a private company to arrange extra deliveries at his own cost, it said it was unable to because he did not have a designated area for the bin.

Giuseppe says he has phoned the council twice a week for the past four months, but he is left under a heap of rubbish.

"They just don't care what happens to my business. I get told this is not our problem," he said. "But this is happening to a lot of businesses and they will come into trouble, all because the waste is not collected often enough."

Giuseppe is now taking his waste home with him, but he said: "I can't keep doing that because my landlord will not let me."

On an average day, Giuseppe says the restaurant produces two to three bags of rubbish.

Morag Rose, business support manager for the council, said bins are only provided to businesses which have space to store them off the public highway, which Giuseppe does not have.

She said: "We can offer daily collections to companies that have the private storage space for a bin. As this is not the case here we have had to advise Giuseppe his only option is our blue bag service, which has twice weekly collections from the town centre."

She added: "Unfortunately this is the situation for businesses which do not have sufficient storage for their waste and they have to find a way around it."