It is clear from Cllr Nick Peel’s response (June 25) to my letter about the proposal to offer to exchange large grey bins for smaller ones that I have rattled his cage.

His dictatorial reply suggests that he does not believe the public have the right to criticise the council.

When he announced the policy, it was sold to us on the basis that it would increase recycling, but he now agrees with me that the people most likely to take up the offer are those already recycling.

He implies that spending £2,300 on buying 500 small bins is insignificant. That, plus the cost of reconditioning the returned bins, which he conveniently omits to tell us, is significant at a time when the council is cutting jobs and services.

I wonder what those council workers who have lost their jobs think about that?

If the council currently has sufficient bins for replacement use, then the policy will result in an accumulation of bins which are surplus to requirements for some time.

It is not acceptable to incur such unnecessary expenditure when the council is in financial difficulties. It is also not necessarily the right or responsible thing to do to meet such requests unless, of course, you are chasing votes at the expense of the town, its residents and taxpayers.

Cllr Peel says that one way of increasing the amount of recycled waste is to ensure that residents have a better understanding of what waste can be put in each bin.

We have now been recycling for several years, so why has it taken the council so long to issue proper instructions to that effect.

Cllr Peel also accuses me of objecting to people having a choice. There should not be any question of choice to incur non-essential expenditure during a recession when the council has more important things to spend money on such things as improving the town centre and maintaining the roads properly. R Swindells Bolton