I HAVE been greatly interested in the letters and articles about waste recycling in York and agree with many readers who have complained about the new measures for collecting domestic waste.

Here in Hartlepool we too are being experimented with by either Government or council or both.

I have a small garden, but have one green wheelie bin for household waste that no one wants or can recycle, collected once every 14 days. I also have one blue box of no little volume for glass and metal, tins/aluminium, emptied fortnightly alongside the green bin; two "poly" bags of about 2.5 cubic feet volume for plastic bottles and cardboard, also emptied every two weeks but alternately with the green bin and blue box; and one brown wheelie bin for garden waste, emptied along with the poly bags.

Apart from the start and end of the garden season, when will I ever fill a wheelie bin with garden waste every two weeks?

Not only does my small garden now look like a satellite of the civic refuse centre, but I'm expected to cut up large boxes into manageable pieces to fit the openings of the poly bags.

As if people didn't have enough to do with their time. While I'm not against recycling and do accept the planet's resources are dwindling, this is not the way to start.

Packaging of goods by companies and retailers should be the place to start.

Have you bought anything from, say, Argos in flat pack?

How much of this packing is recyclable? The amount of non- degradable polystyrene is criminal, I bought three items last week and almost filled my green bin with polystyrene.

The Government should start by levying these retail outlets whose packaging is not bio-degradable.

W Elliott,

Kinbrace Road,

Hartlepool.

Updated: 12:14 Monday, August 22, 2005