Never a week goes by without someone saying: “Recycling plastic bottles in the home is labour-intensive, time-consuming and downright monotonous.”

That’s perfectly right. No one enjoys having to rinse and clean containers before squashing them flat and placing them in the blue bin. I certainly don’t.

But we must not lose sight of the environmental benefits. We must not lose sight of the fact that recycling only one plastic bottle conserves enough energy to light a 60w light bulb for up to six hours. I only wish we had the courage to make home recycling compulsory.

Aled Jones, Mount Crescent, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.