Lambeth has made several changes to domestic refuse collection arrangements, to boost the percentage of waste that goes for recycling rather than land-fill. At last we can recycle a wider range of plastic containers, but strangely not aluminium foil (once a by-word for salvage drives) nor cooking oil – though people are starting to run vehicles on it!

However it’s better described as one step forward and two steps back. Lambeth has threatened to take a tougher line over what goes into which bin, but in the negative Council way that gives recycling a bad name. It’s now declining to haul wheely-bins out of front gardens, so we can look forward to even more of them obstructing the basements. And why are most of them 240 litres size when most of our waste can go for recycling instead? Surely the best incentive to recycle would be a return to the traditional size dustbin of 90 litres? Then you would have to be selective about what when into it. Or even give us separate bins for recycling, as other councils already do?

Surely a second step back is charging for garden waste collection. A real incentive to return to the traditional garden bonfire instead = never mind the extra carbon dioxide and fumes arising!