Concerning the changes to refuse and recycling

collection in Worthing (The Argus, June 16), readers will remember the council was forced to change the recycling system last year.

This was to comply with instructions from the Health and Safety Executive, which had ruled it was unsafe for the collectors to wheel one bin and push another.

At the time, it was appreciated that weekly recycling

collection was much to be

preferred, hence the return to weekly recycling collection.

It is necessary to consider the wider picture of how we dispose of our waste. Worthing Borough generated 37,776 tonnes of waste last year. This was an increase from 34,357 tonnes in 1999/2000. The rate of increase is two per cent a year, so next year will be 38,607 tonnes.

At present, only 10.27 per cent of this is recycled and

the rest is land filled. This

cannot go on. We are fast

running out of land fill space locally, nationally and internationally so it is imperative we recycle more.

This situation has been recognised by the government which has set stringent recycling targets for councils; these are 24 per cent by the

end of 2004 and 36 per cent by the end of 2005. It is clear the

council must put increased emphasis on recycling.

In order to do so, it has been necessary to change to front-of-house collection of non-recyclables. This will enable resources to be transferred to recycling to allow for weekly collection.

If rear-of-house had been retained, an extra £66,000 a year would been needed, which would have added another 1.25 per cent to the council tax at 2003 levels.

It will also allow more

recycling as the green waste collected in green sacks will be composted rather than land filled. The cost of these sacks has also been reduced and is likely to fall further.

To help bring about these changes, the council has invested an extra £250,000 to provide an extra collection vehicle and a special collections vehicle.

The running costs (revenue) have also increased by £65,000 in the next full year. This is equivalent to about 1.25 per cent on Worthing's council tax.

residents free? This would

cost between £700,000 and

£1 million and this cost was considered prohibitive.

If you have any queries regarding your collection, please call the hotline on 01903 229266.

John Lovell

deputy leader,

-Worthing Borough Council