I AM putting down my secateurs for a moment to write to you to support City of York Council's policy on recycling and particularly green bin collections.

In most winters, there are mild patches when gardeners can get on with the essential tidying up jobs, cutting back evergreens, pruning roses and other shrubs. The soft material I compost, but my green bin was full when I put it out a fortnight ago, and had been so since January.

As I am writing this the sun is shining and I am about to tackle a large hydrangea and overgrown mahonia.

Over the course of the winter, I would imagine that even non-gardeners would have accumulated faded bunches of flowers and spent pot plants, Brussels sprout stalks, and maybe a Christmas tree and some mistletoe in their green bins awaiting collection.

For those who find their black bin is overflowing even now that cardboard and plastic bottles can be recycled, I suggest that instead of worrying about how much they pay for the collection service, they consider how much all that rubbish has cost them to buy. We, the consumers, pay for all the fancy, unnecessary packaging; in many cases the packaging is costing us more than the product.

Are you throwing away uneaten food - you might as well be throwing away pound coins! Are you buying things on impulse which you don't need and soon throw away?

Once I had become aware of how much my rubbish had cost me to buy, I found the amount I was throwing away diminished. It would be interesting if the Evening Press could organise some research on this, as it could possibly help some of your readers save money as well as help with their overflowing bins.

Barbara J Pyrah,

Cedar Glade,

Dunnington,

York.

Updated: 10:24 Wednesday, March 22, 2006