WHILE I am wholly in favour of recycling, I feel York council is going about their new system in a high-handed way without consulting those it affects.

The council has decided to reduce the collection of household waste to once a fortnight. Are we suddenly expected to reduce our rubbish by half?

We don't have enough garden waste to fill a green wheelie bin.

I rang the relevant department last week and was told the moves had been fully discussed at local ward meetings. I don't remember being notified of them.

Even so, it would have been polite to have been informed that these new methods were going to be introduced in a few months, or even ask if we mind taking part in the trial (another example of the council introducing things by stealth?).

Apparently, we are going to be able to put plastic in with our cans and bottles. I wonder if we will get a bigger box because we fill ours fortnightly anyway.

Has the council also reduced the collections it makes from the large supermarkets who, with their excess packaging, provide a large part of our waste?

Surely the onus is on the council to provide adequate refuse facilities, not on us to only produce enough waste to suit them.

Gill Barker,

Crichton Avenue, York.

Updated: 11:30 Monday, September 05, 2005