RAY Puddifoot's assertion that Hillingdon Council will not resort to a pay-as-you-throw refuse collection regime,or fortnightly collections, or forcing residents to buy special bin bags (Council leaders' columns, July 2) is all well and good, but it needs to be backed up with either better education or better street cleaning.

You cannot, with the best will in the world, get everyone to adhere to the rules regarding waste disposal, just as you will never stop people dropping litter.

If you accept this, your next port of call is a better system for clearing up after the few - or is it a majority? - who break the rules.

The Gazette has reported in the last few weeks on the new street sweeping machines the council has bought, and that's great - for the town centres, which are generally pretty tidy.

Now what about the folk who, despite constant reminders, peer pressure and complaints, simply cannot put their black bag rubbish out in the correct fashion?

Walk along my street on black bag collection day and the drifts of chicken bones, food scraps and even the occasional baby's nappy dragged from the sacks overnight by cats, dogs and foxes, are a sight to behold. And not a pleasant one.

I have even seen black bags left out a full 48 hours before collection day: yet more time for the local wildlife to go mining for the good stuff and leave the spoil in the gutter.

Forget the recycling bags, that's not what I'm on about. They contain clean and largely odour-free waste.

I've never seen one ripped open by animals (the occasional Brunel University student, perhaps) and Hillingdon's record on recycling is to be applauded.

But by using black bags for land-fill-bound rubbish, the council is behind the times. A move to a wheelie bin system is now called for, even with the huge capital investment that would require.

It would need strict policing, and it would probably mean a restriction on the number of bags deposited, with all the aggravation that has caused in some parts of the country,where bin men have been abused for refusing to take overfull bins.

Fly-tipping, another borough cap feather,would probably increase in the short term.

But it would force people to recycle more, and, most importantly, it would go some way to preventing the filth that flows out into neighbourhood streets in the days leading up to black bag day.

I would, by the way, happily pay for what I throw,because I recycle and compost diligently, and produce very little for landfill, but I accept that doesn't work for everyone,and that my selfish motives are only one part of the debate.

Other peoples' selfish actions are another part, equally in need of addressing.

Because if the council will not sweep streets that are away from the town centre, and if self-interest, personal convenience and a lack of self-discipline mean the black bag system has largely failed, then Mr Puddifoot and his colleagues must come up with an alternative.

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