JOHANNESBURG - The City of Johannesburg says the rubbish collection backlog has been cleared.

The streets of Johannesburg were left with bins full of rubbish for almost a week.

That's after the City failed to renew on time a multimillion-rand contract with Avis SA, the vehicle-rental company in the Barloworld group.

Spokesperson Nico de Jager blames poor management for the problem.

"It is quite embarrassing. It was, in fact, a huge issue for us," said De Jager.

"The person responsible did not renew the contract and failed to inform Pikitup on time.

"For a week we did not have our rounds on time and I am very happy to report that the rubbish from the backlog over the past week has been collected."