Communities secretary Eric Pickles has to be congratulated for offering to pay councils for retaining or reintroducing weekly bin collections in their areas.

I concur with Mr Pickles that a weekly collection is the historic right of householders and that

fortnightly collections in­crease adverse environmental effects such as bad odours, flies, and maggots, and also require greater use of scarce water and energy in maintaining bin-cleanliness.

Government cannot force councils to reintroduce weekly waste collections but Gloucestershire councils have scored own goals by introducing high cost, low efficiency and high carbon emission systems of collection and processing household waste.

Residents have not seen any reduction in council tax following the introduction of fortnightly collection and charging for garden waste and large items. Experience from Gloucester, Cheltenham, and other councils show low take up of charged schemes. Charged services benefit few. Given that costs far exceed income, all households will be subsidising the luxury of the few.

The general recycling scheme in the Forest of Dean also requires a re-think. Its performance at 14 per cent landfill diversion of waste collected is abysmal. Cost of collection per household is also the highest amongst rural districts such as Stroud. Given the economic downturn, income from sale of recycled materials is forecast to be low and unless cost of collection is reduced, the service would be unsustainable.

Seen in this context, Mr Pickles' offer is God-sent and hope our council re-thinks the longer term costs and environmental implications of the complex collection systems being put in place.

– Venk Shenoi, Blaisdon.