ANN Petherick is wrong in claiming that the standard wheeled bin now being issued by the council is "twice the size of the old dustbin".

A year ago the council agreed to reduce the size of the new bins it issues to encourage waste minimisation and recycling.

The initiative coincided with the selective collection of recyclable materials from most of the homes in the city (recently extended even further).

However, further reducing the size of bins could lead to more dumping. This is both unsightly and expensive to clear and bad news for the council tax payers. One positive step towards making our city more self sustaining would be for central Government to legislate not only to reduce unnecessary packaging, but also to stimulate the demand for recycled products.

Even better if the Government ploughs the income it gets from Landfill Tax in the York area into providing better recycling facilities at street level and at the household waste sites.

Mark Waudby,

Chair, Environment and sustainability panel, City of York Council,

Brecksfield,

Skelton, York.

Updated: 09:45 Friday, June 18, 2004