I UNDERSTAND the thinking behind the plan to use smaller grey bins.

Yes, people need to be encouraged to recycle more. The idea would work if all households were the same and all people had the same attitude to recycling.

In a perfect recycling world, I could easily make it work. In a 'normal' fortnight, I barely fill a third of my grey. However, 'normality' never exists.

My green bin usually has a small number of bags of plate scrapings. All garden cuttings, peelings, cores etc go on my compost heap.

Because I buy two newspapers per day, my paper bin is always full.

A smaller grey bin would cause a real problem. I do a near-daily litter pick in the nearby ginnels, which on a normal fortnight can take around two thirds of my bin space Some weeks when oiks usually do a mega litter dump, my grey bin overflows.

I am sure there are many other folks in a similar position, with a huge percentage of their grey bin full of other people's chuck outs.

Bolton has made huge cuts in council services but why can't more effort be made to persuade householders to clear their refuse from a few metres from their own doorsteps or gates?

Nick Peel needs to think more deeply before snatching £2m from the council wallet. The issue is much broader than encouraging people to recycle.

The most likely outcome of smaller grey bins will be an increase in dumped refuse. Where do I put the ginnel-gathered refuse when my shrunken bin is full? Even a huge increase in town centre fag-butt fires won't solve this one.

David Sharples

Tarbet Drive

Breightmet.