Sir - Those of us living in flats have to wait till next year to know how our rubbish will be collected. So we are very interested in observing our local area to see how they are coping with the New Order. It seems obvious that properties without front gardens and/or side entries cannot manage wheelie bins and the alternative lilac bags would seem to have advantages for many others as well.

  • Once the bags are collected the pavements are clear of obstacles to pedestrians
  • People can continue to use their old dustbins to store the bags until they can be put out for collection
  • As the bags are free, we are saving money we had to spend buying black ones
  • Possibly older people might find bags easier to carry out than heavy wheelie bins they have to push (I am 80 and my neighbour is 94 and there is no way we are going to be lugging those things around).

There might even be another advantage we don't know about. Distinctively coloured bags make it clear to the binmen which they have to take. But wouldn't it be wonderful if the lilac dye was a miracle of chemical technology invented to repel marauding rodents and even act as a deodorant?

Eileen Davies, Oxford