REGARDING the cost of litter collection and disposal of roadside litter by the Forestry Commission and the council as reported in your paper. May I suggest through your pages a cheaper and better way to do this in the summer months.

If a forage harvester type of vehicle which shoots cut grass and litter into a following trailer then two jobs would be done in one go. There are other advantages using this method which benefits the environment.

Firstly the cut grass is removed from the verges instead of the present way of leaving it on the verge where it decomposes and fertilises the grass causing it to grow stronger and smothering the wild flowers.

If and when the trailer was full the load could be emptied at convenient spots along the verge where it would compost the grass and paper litter.

The plastic glass and tin could be collected after the heap had rotted away. The grass snake uses such heaps to lay its eggs in because the warmth of the decomposing grass speeds the hatching of the eggs.

So winners all round.

– John Timbrell, Drybrook.