York's new refuse arrangements - that is, alternate weeks' collections - will be inadequate, unhygienic, unhealthy and downright unsavoury.

We know how the bin smells on day seven when disposing of the last bits of rubbish prior to emptying - well, I feel sorry for the people who will be collecting everyone's stinking, putrefying mess on day 14.

No matter how well everything is wrapped, the smell will escape. It will permeate the atmosphere and get into everyone's nostrils. It will be a permanent reminder of the heavy-handed methods of the way changes are implemented by this council.

Can we expect to see our refuse collectors wearing contamination suits and masks to protect them from the hazards of two-week old waste?

Perhaps we should be thinking of reverting to the Victoria habit of carrying a pot-pourri pomander to sniff when the unsavoury aroma becomes too much.

In our home, we are probably not as strict as we could be over certain items of waste; mostly, the used kitchen roll goes into the big bin, but we do our best.

Cans, glass, foil and newspapers are put into a box and taken personally to the recycling centre at Asda on a weekly basis.

Kitchen waste such as teabags, eggshells, peelings and so on are put into a small bin in the kitchen and taken down the garden to the compost bin.

Plastic bottles and other items on recycle numbers 1-3 are collected and taken to a relative's house from where they are collected and recycled, I believe, by someone to do with St Nicholas' Fields.

We're instructed not to buy more food than we need and to watch out for excess packaging. That being the case, WHY do supermarkets persist in packaging fruit and veg in plastic packs. Aren't people credited with being able to work out the amount of food they need?

I buy our requirements from the market when I'm in town but can't face the hassle every week of parking and avoiding all the people who seem to think we become invisible whilst walking along the pavements. I also can't carry heavy bags, so use a shopper and even that becomes rather heavy to pull after a while.

Here's a list of items I saw with what I consider to be excess and unnecessary packaging in the fruit and veg aisles of Asda : BEANS - green, broad and various runner; mixed veg pack can't we choose our own veg to mix?; asparagus; peas; corn; mangetout; capsicums; bananas; apples; pears; nectarine/peaches; grapes;celery; radishes; tomatoes; various other soft fruit; kiwi and oranges and lemons packed in nets.

I would have like some of those veg, but not in the quantity they were being sold and not bundled up in little plastic parcels. How can people buy what they want and need when they are denied the choice?

Manufacturers seem only to produce items such as fabric conditioner in plastic bottles now. Whatever happened to the cardboard refill cartons we used to be able to get?

Marks and Spencer are selling packs of knickers in a heavy duty plastic wallet. That's not too bad because the wallet can be used for storing other things. However, each pair of knickers is wrapped around a fairly thick piece of A5 size paper. WHY? What possible use was that, except as wheelie bin fodder?

People can only reduce their waste when they don't have to buy it in the first place.

Don't just take the supermarket carrier bags - take a shopping bag or use a box for transporting purchases in the boot of the car.

In town, we don't need a fresh plastic carrier from every shop. If you must, get one from the first place you go and tell the others you don't need a bag until the first one is full but not too heavy to carry.

Perhaps the stores should consider using bags made from biodegradeable material such as that which was used for the garden waste in the Heworth area when we had our own parish collection.

I still feel that a once-a-month collection of garden waste would be sufficient for most people, and to keep it simple, make it the first week of each month. People are not going to produce household waste for the sake of it, but what about when we have a good clear-out of our homes and things just have to go in the bin? With two weeks' house waste, the bins will hardly accommodate things like that. Why can't some of the waste that goes to landfill now be incinerated?

There's more waste nowadays because in times past, people had open fires and could burn quite a lot of what now goes into the bins.

Your comments:

My biggest concern is that along with a fortnightly collection of green, the council have also adopted a fortnightly bottle box collection! Excuse me, but isn't this a backward step? Aren't we supposed to be recycling more? How can we when the bottle box is full after one week? It's a right old rip-off if you ask me. Less of a service for the same money.The council are barking up the wrong tree entirely.

Annmarie Cook, Huntington

Updated: 15:02 Thursday, October 13, 2005