I HAVE to take issue with your campaign against the council's proposed change in refuse collection. These are the facts: landfill sites are disappearing; Britain has a very poor record when it comes to recycling; recycling is a must, not an option for all of us.

Who is responsible for this?

1. The Government has to facilitate and take a lead and if needs be enforce through legislation.

2. Local authorities have to implement government legislation but also have to provide the facilities to recycle. A good example of this is the kerbside collections of glass, paper and cans. However if needs be enforcement action should be taken if people do not recycle.

3. Companies should reduce packaging and be encouraged to do so.

4. We should recycle as much as we can.

So what has happened? As we all know the Government has given the council a target to reduce landfill which is perfectly understandable.

The council has chosen to interpret this by a carrot-and-stick approach, giving us the option to recycle our garden waste (carrot) but reducing the normal collections to fortnightly (stick).

No one disputes that we have to recycle, however the fact remains that we are not doing it enough. There is absolutely no excuse for glass, cans and paper, yet I have seen communal bins full of such stuff.

In my view the council should go further and fine people who do not recycle such items.

Bins are too full because either people do not recycle at all or because of packaging.

Here people should be more responsible and refuse to buy such goods where possible, lobby the companies to reduce packaging and pressure the local authority to improve recycling facilities.

Liam Godfrey,

Appleton Court,

Bishopthorpe,

York.

Updated: 10:20 Tuesday, October 04, 2005