OUR bins have been emptied weekly since before I can remember.

We talk about progress, what a joke.

I remember when the bin man used to come into your yard, pick up your bin, empty it and then place it back in YOUR yard with the lid on.

I can just see that, by next Christmas, we will probably need to wait a month before our bins are emptied.

I suspect the council has seen that, this year, more and more people decided to take their rubbish to the waste disposal points themselves - very convenient, I must say, for them ... what a good idea if we (the council) don't empty the bins, they will bring it to the waste disposal points for us!

More and more I read about Bolton Council needing to cut costs. Why is it that I visit much smaller towns with smaller populations that can afford far better standards of service, who still have free car parks, smooth roads, and clean and tidy streets?

We have a huge population that is (or should be) paying council tax - or do we have a disproportionate amount of non-payers which means that the council can't make ends meet?

I'm sorry, but while I love Bolton - the place I was born and grew up in - it just seems to me that it gets dirtier and dirtier and nobody cares any more.

I know we all produce more rubbish and we need to tackle this problem. I have always tried to recycle as much as possible, but most of my waste is in the form of supermarket packaging, and I believe that pressure should be put upon major retailers and manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging that it takes to wrap up a "finest" food chicken dish that you sling in the microwave.

Perhaps I'm at fault for shopping at a supermarket.

John Turner

Bolton