OUTRAGED residents say rubbish bags piling up at Albert Dock are unsightly and causing a stink.
For the past few months, people living near the Hull docks have noticed a growing number of waste and recycling bags littering the landscape.
Anthony Robinson, 37, was out shopping with his family near Albert Dock last week when they were overcome by the terrible stench.
Mr Robinson, who is a technician, said: "I had a day off work and I was out shopping with my brother and sister when we were taken aback by the smell.
"At first we thought it was the drains, but then we were told it was coming from the bags on Albert Dock.
"When we started going towards the retail park at St Andrew's Quay, the smell just got stronger and stronger – it's absolutely disgusting."
The smell became so severe that Mr Robinson started to gag while driving and was forced to pull over.
"I thought I was going to be sick," he said.
Mr Robinson says this is not a one-off and that the rubbish bags have been an issue for a long time.
"I drive down the A63 to work in Gilberdyke every day and I've noticed it piling up for about four or five months," he said.
"The smell didn't used to be so bad, but with the weather getting hotter and hotter, it's stinking to high heaven."
Mr Robinson is concerned the smells could get even worse and lead to a repeat of the problems with waste that plagued residents in Grimsby last summer.
There is also some concern about what impact the sight and smell of waste has on people who are visiting the area.
"That road is the gateway to Hull, so what sort of impression does it give to visitors coming to the area, particularly now we are going to be the City of Culture?" he said.
Mr Robinson is fed up with the situation and says something needs to be done about the problem, before it gets out of control.
He said: "It's awful, all you can see is piles and piles of black and green and blue bags, all recycling, just piled up and it stinks.
"The council need to sort it out."
A spokesman for Hull City Council explained the site is privately owned and overseen by the Environment Agency, a national government body, who are responsible for managing the disposal of business and commercial waste in England.
The council confirmed the rubbish bags on the docks are being stored there before being transferred to incinerators.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said they have received a number of complaints from the public about the site and are working with the owners to fix the problem.
He said: "The Environment Agency has been investigating complaints of odour and flies at Hardings Cargo Handling Ltd on Albert Docks, Hull.
"This site has a permit for the storage of refuse-derived fuel, and as a regulator of this site we have made several visits to assess the scale of the problems and to see that the company acts to limit the impact on the environment and local community.
"Over the past few weeks we have been working with the company to help it improve its waste management plan.
"Hardings has responded well to this and we are pleased to say the problems have now been brought under control.
"As a result, the number of public complaints about the site has dropped."
The Environment Agency representative confirmed they will continue to monitor the site's performance and urges anyone who experiences problems with this, or any other similar site, to report the matter to their incident hotline on 0800 807060.
Agency is tackling odour problems in the cityTHIS is not the first time the Environment Agency has had to step in to stop odour pollution caused by private waste contractors in Hull.
In January 2012, the agency was forced to suspend the licence of one of its contractors, Biowise, after almost 600 complaints from villagers about the smell at its composting facility in Albion Lane in Willerby.
Biowise operates on a former landfill site and the company's main output is recycling construction and organic waste.
The company was banned from managing tannery waste at the site and forced to produce a plan to outline how they would reduce odours that were making life a misery for residents who lived nearby.
