How green

SIR, - There has been a great deal of debate about recycling in St Albans over the past few months but practices seem to be confusing and I would encourage your newspaper to ask a few questions regarding costs and policy.

Friday, March 27, was our "green" week where the green wheelie-bin and the three recycling boxes were due to be collected in Park Street. I live in a small close of 10 houses. The recycling truck backed down the road, the men doing the pick-up completely ignored three boxes outside my house, took most of the boxes from other houses but also left a printed sheet in the boxes containing plastics and steel cans and did not empty them. The printed sheet stipulated what could and could not be put into the box designated for plastics and steel. I called the council and was told that my recycling would be picked up "later".

The following morning (Saturday) the recycling truck arrived again for a second trip and did the pick-up of my boxes and all the others which had been left unemptied outside my neighbours' houses. However, the contents of all the boxes - that is glass, paper, plastic and steel - were mixed and tipped together into a green wheelie-bin which was then emptied into the truck. I cannot believe for a minute that St Albans District Council is now going to separate out all that recycling at any depot. I would guess that this will all go straight to a landfill, making our careful recycling a complete waste of time and effort.

This begs a couple of questions. What is the cost - to our council tax, of course - of sending out second-attempt recycling trucks on a Saturday morning to pick up what should have been collected at the first round?

Secondly, where did all that mixed-up recycling go on Saturday, March 28? And exactly what percentage of our recycled materials - glass, plastics, paper and steel - does end up in proper recycling plants?

SIMON BROWN,

Fairway Close, Park Street.