IF the city council revises its refuse collection service to fortnightly this will increase the risk of rat infestation. The weekly collection was originally introduced to help combat such problems.

The council should be thinking of ways of helping residents collect their rubbish in an environmentally-friendly way. One wheelie bin per house, a box for tins and glass and a bag for paper, not envelopes or card, helps just a small amount.

The bag is big enough for a one- person household. For a family it should be the size of a dustbin bag.

The box for tins and glass needs to be on wheels because, if you are disabled, it is hard to manoeuvre around when full. As for the rest of food packagings, well, there is always the wheelie bin.

Our family easily fill the wheelie bin weekly. I recycle our garden waste, old clothes and shoes and even the rubble and soil I dug from the garden when I redeveloped it.

What about leaving the wheelie bin collection as it is and provide a boxes on wheels for tins, glass, plastic and a bigger bag for paper/cardboard and envelopes?

Robert Tyler,

Tang Hall Lane, York.

Updated: 10:25 Friday, May 13, 2005