I ENTIRELY applaud City of York Council's intentions to recycle more garden waste and I know that they are under pressure from government to do so.

However, having seen the article in the Evening Press (January 6), I am concerned at the proposal to purchase additional wheelie bins for this purpose.

I travel regularly throughout the country and have been appalled by the visual damage caused to so many towns and villages by unsightly bins left on pavements or stored in front gardens.

Very few housing areas can accommodate bins out of sight, especially multiple bins per household, and the sheer ugliness of this undermines civic pride, just at a time when York council is campaigning on that very issue.

Before the £1 million contract for these bins is signed I urge the council to look at the alternatives. Councils in South Cambridgeshire and Dorset, for example, are using paper sacks (which can themselves be recycled) for garden waste and this is far preferable to a bin which many householders may have no option but to leave in their front garden.

The city must learn the lesson of other towns before it is too late.

Ann Petherick,

Scarcroft Hill,

York.

Updated: 11:47 Friday, January 28, 2005