Problem of collecting rubbish is a disgrace

LETTER - Whatever happened to the good old days? We had small galvanised bins with lids that were emptied on a weekly basis. The binman would come and fetch the bin from the back door, then leave it at the bottom gate for us to pick up. What we did not throw away we burned in the fire grate.

But rubbish of course is not the same nowadays. It's mainly plastic. Years ago it was mainly glass, cardboard, wood, paper or tin. Shops used to take back empty bottles and the shopkeeper would give 3d back off each empty one that we returned.

Nice bit of pocket money for us children. We could buy a bar of chocolate those days for 6d, which was half a shilling. (A shilling was 12d in the old money and became 5p in new decimal currency).

However, today the manufacturer continues to make plastic packaging, so they and the supermarkets that they supply can make maximum profits, while tenants and local councils battle it out to decide what to do with all the rubbish.

For example, councils are suggesting using smaller bins that can be collected fortnightly, and tenants on the other hand are saying the big bins are not big enough to hold all their waste, unless emptied on weekly basis, even though they recycle it.

I remember our rubbish mainly consisted of ashes from the fire, because anything that would burn, we burned to keep warm.

As for our binmen, we were as happy to see them as they were to see us. They used to play football in their break time out on the road. They were a friendly lot and well respected by everyone.

Steve Phillips, Oswestry