A visit to any amenity tip is a revelation.

Washing machines, cookers, television sets and discarded computers occupy much of the space and, recently, I saw a rank of bicycles.

Not so many years ago, you would take yours for repair to Joe round the corner - or mend it yourself.

This waste cannot continue much longer. It cannot be right that the Western world, with less than 30 per cent of the world's population, consumes 70 per cent of the world's resources.

Built-in obsolescence may relieve unemployment and boost profits but we must soon switch to a policy of repair and renovation if we are to avoid the inevitable economic crunch within the foreseeable future.

-Maurice Packham, Station Road, Worthing